Sure, Why Not?

EXCLUSIVE: Trump has suggested to aides he wants to pardon himself in the final days of his presidency, a move that would mark one of the most extraordinary and untested uses of presidential power in American history. w/@maggieNYT https://t.co/ebeJrQEAER

— Michael S. Schmidt (@nytmike) January 7, 2021

It's pretty much the last act in the shitshow.

She told people yesterday she wasn’t. https://t.co/zTAoRDu2IE

— Maggie Haberman (@maggieNYT) January 7, 2021

Wasn't what, you ask?

MORE: Pelosi has joined Sen. Schumer calling for the 25th Amendment to be invoked.

She added said Trump is "a very dangerous person who should not continue in office. This is urgent, an emergency of the highest magnitude." https://t.co/FSUmVKeupb

— Bloomberg (@business) January 7, 2021

She also excoriated the SecDef and Trump for what happened yesterday:

! PELOSI says the acting Secretary of Defense "has to answer for where the National Guard was yesterday."

— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) January 7, 2021

As to the latter, you really need to follow this link and just spend 10 minutes of your precious time listening to Malcolm Nance. (I hardly ever listen to things on-line.  I prefer to read.  I heard this on the radio.  It's worth listening to.  I do not say that lightly.) He's absolutely right: this happened because Trump instigated it and obviously didn't see fit to authorize any police presence beyond the Capitol Police, which don't answer to the Administration (the other forces, the ones out in force in D.C. this summer when the White House was threatened, do). Which doesn't make Joe Biden wrong:

More from @JoeBiden on the disparate treatment of TRUMP supporters yesterday vs. Black Lives Matter protestors: “The American people saw it in plain view, & I hope it sensitized them to what we have to do." https://t.co/ncRCBA516C

— Kenneth P. Vogel (@kenvogel) January 7, 2021

Plenty of blame to go around, as they say.

Back to the top:  can Trump get away with a self-pardon?  No, I don't think so.  But who knows how the Supremes will twist reason and logic to reach a desired end? I'm a lawyer, I understand legal reasoning, and some decisions of the Court, especially recently, completely baffle me.  If Trump can somehow connect it to his religious beliefs, all bets are off.  In that area the Court has been completely without reason, of late.  OTOH, it's a strong argument for invoking the 25th.  I appreciate Pelosi's desire to impeach Trump; I even support it.  I just doubt it would get through the Senate (and really, the idea that Harris as VP represents a "majority" in the Senate only works when she resigns and the Gov. of CA appoints a successor, who is then sworn in.  Nothing is simple.).  Suspending Trump under the 25th would suspend his pardon power.  And I really don't think, anymore, that Pence would pardon Trump on the morning of January 20.

Of course, I could be wrong.  And I really don't expect the Trump Cabinet to agree to suspend Trump from his office.  I'm more concerned Trump will pardon all and sundry who acted in D.C. yesterday.  There's precedent for that kind of blanket pardon.  I expect him to do it, probably in conjunction with pardoning himself.  Might as well use the rule of law to make the rule of law a complete joke, right?

BTW:  Trump the Dangerous, denied his Twitter?  He's fled to Camp David.  Isolation, IOW.  I don't think he's going to invite Lindsay down for supper:

This is so cynical and situational. After predicting Trump would be a disaster--he was correct!—Graham spent four years sucking up to and enabling a hateful, bigoted, narcissistic demagogue. Now that Trump is losing power, Graham is no longer his BFF. What a weasel. https://t.co/BNXlZON4dt

— David Corn (@DavidCornDC) January 7, 2021