Bruh it won’t matter.

Not only did we squarely place ourselves on the path of economic/social decline for the foreseeable future, but we also just guaranteed that Trump will not be held accountable for his crimes.

We have utterly failed as citizens in a democratic society.

Buckle up. It gets much, much worse from here.

Trump and his party are nazis. Nazis suck because they bring the law of the jungle into civilization.

The law of civilization is cooperation.

The law of the jungle is, can I physically do it.

Republicans basically exist to shout, burn their own house down (also yours), and celebrate. They’re going to burn the checks and balances.

He can obviously do whatever the fuck he wants. This unfortunately isn’t even a reasonable question to be asking at this point.

No president has tried it before. Whether he can get away with pardoning himself has yet to be seen. For him not to get away with it would require someone to bring some sort of court case challenging it. And to bring a case, they have to have “standing.” (That is to say, they have to have some credible justification why the self-pardoning action the president took wronged the petitioner in some way.) Which would probably require some legal argument that has never been made before.

I’m guessing Trump probably could get away with it, but given that no president has tried this, we’ll just have to see for sure.

The Constitutional text is very broad:

The President … shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.

So it looks rather absolute, for Fedral crimes. However, the real situation is complicated. This is just one clause in the Constitution, while the President is supposed to be bound by all of it. So, presumably, he can’t exercise his pardon power in a way that violates something else in the Constitution. If you go deeper into the Federalist papers, it’s quite clear that the Founders held that no man should be his own judge, and a self-pardon effectively does just that.

Here is a good write-up, although I do note it was written before the Supreme Court put their thumb on the scale and said he could do whatever the hell he wanted, as long as he doesn’t get impeached for it:

https://protectdemocracy.org/work/the-presidential-pardon-power-explained/

I expect him to do it anyway. It will be challenged, but courts will reject it due to “lack of standing” and sidestep the messy business of having to tell the King he went too far.

For federal stuff, yes … probably, it’s never been tested, but the current SCOTUS won’t stop him.

Not for state crimes. Like the 34 felony counts in NY. But enforcement of any sentence (probably financial) is unclear. Also unprecedented.

When he controls the Supreme Court… yes. He can pardon anyone for anything.

Prepare to see everyone involved in the most blatant act of open tyranny since the Civil War pardoned as soon as he takes office.

he doesn’t need to since he already has absolute legal immunity according to the Supreme Court.

The president is now absolutely immune from all legal prosecution as long as it pertains to a “official duty”.

The constitution is vague enough about official presidential duties that the official duties of the president can literally be anything.

Trump, and future presidents, are functionally immune from any legal consequences for any actions they take.

Yes, because he can do anything he wants and just declare legal.

There is no punishment for this supervillain. His cult makes sure of that.

yes

Theoretically, probably not, practically, and in real life, most probably definitely yes.