THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME

So the bad man did another bad thing.  What else is new?  He’s going to do worse.   

Donald Trump has been eager to try out his pardon power because he needed to get some practice in before he faces off against Robert Mueller.  So he issued his first pardon to a man much like himself – a doddering old racist who made a mockery of the very laws he was elected to enforce.  And no doubt all the Flynns, Manaforts, and others involved in the Russian election hack took notice.  Two birds, one stone.

Unlike every other president in my lifetime, Trump doesn’t even pretend to being, in Franklin D. Roosevelt’s words, “president of all the people.”  He thrives on enemies, and if there aren’t any handy, he’ll make some new ones.  As far as Trump’s concerned, he won the battle of Charlottesville.  He is now convinced that he can say anything – threaten to nuke North Korea, to invade Venezuela, and claim that there are many fine people among the ranks of the Klan and Nazis – and get away with all of it.  The worse he gets, the more his hardcore base loves him. 

And the longer congressional Republicans simply look the other way – either remaining silent or wringing their hands and issuing vague statements of concern – the more impotent they look.  Trump doesn’t give a damn about Republicans’ “concerns.” 

The only thing he really gives a damn about at this point is the investigation into his connections to the Russian election hack.  I can’t help but wonder if his sudden enthusiasm for a government shutdown is really just a pretext for shutting down one very small part of the government – Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of him and his family. 

Donald Trump can and probably will issue pardons to the suspects in Mueller’s investigation.  But that doesn’t mean they’ll walk away laughing.  Reporters can still report; criminals can still be publicly branded as such.  And as I’ve written before, much of the criminal activity at the heart of Mueller’s investigation took place in New York City, and it’s highly probable that anyone Trump pardons for federal crimes also broke state laws in New York, where they’ll find Attorney General Eric Schneiderman waiting for them.  Trump’s pardon power doesn’t extend to state crimes.  

The best case scenario for most of the people Trump pardons is crippling legal fees and ongoing public humiliation.  As the old song goes, “When tomorrow is today, the bells may toll for some, but nothing can change the shape of things to come.”