Talk politics.

So, an American president commutes the sentence of a person convicted by a jury of lying to shield that very president.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53371756

What's funny is that Trump seems to really think that just because he poked his people yet again in the eye on a Friday night they'll forget on a Tuesday in November.

On a funnier note, Trump will likely pardon all of his allies before he concedes his presidency, although he will fight it tooth and nail. And when it finally dawns on him that he lost, my bet is that he will strike a devil's bargain with Pence, resign and have Pence assume the presidency and pardon him before Biden gets sworn in. And if thereafter Vance gets too close to him, he may well skip the country rather than face a multidecade prison term in New York.

(Of course all of the above is just a fantasy, since Vance is a State’s Attorney. If Trump were convicted in state court, only the Governor of the State can pardon him. Trump can’t pardon anyone convicted in state court either. Also Trump would first have to be convicted of a crime before he can be pardoned for it. Last time I checked, presidents are still not able to hand out preemptive pardons. But still.)

But more seriously. This whole situation raises an interesting question about the institution of pardoning. I think it all started with Gerald Ford pardoning Nixon. His was the original sin of the pardon power. The current practice is tantamount to royal powers of the era of absolutism. Why is there no judicial review and a succinct and detailed justification of such acts? We are looking at absolute corruption and egregious abuse of power. Since Trump has no shame or sense of embarrassment, anything can be possible.

Sure, Ford pardoned Nixon, theoretically because he felt the country needed to move on. It cost him re-election. However, I don't think, fundamentally that the two pardons are the same. Ford was a decent, if poorly advised, man. Trump is an amoral narcissist.

And yet. By failing to allow an accounting for the Nixon White House’s crimes Ford laid the foundation for corrupt presidents to come. The accounting for Trump's crimes will make Nixon's look like a cake walk. Who would have thought that someone worse then Nixon would ever by President, after all? Trump's greatest accomplishments are being more corrupt than Nixon and more incompetent than Bush Jr. What a legacy. There will be no monuments to Trump, not even a wall. LOL.

Question is, what will be left of American democracy by the time he's gone.