"Be Careful What You Wish For"

'Trump has fallen victim to his own trick' as he faces the reality of prosecution: columnist https://t.co/cB0LWTNgz5

— Raw Story (@RawStory) March 10, 2023

There's an interesting argument here:

"Trump acclimated Americans to many egregious actions by exposure therapy," Graham explained before elaborating, "What was once novel and frightening became familiar; familiarity bred contempt, but also enough acceptance to let Trump get away with a lot. Ironically, Trump may himself now risk falling victim to the same pattern. The idea that a former president might be indicted for a crime has, through repetition, gone from an unthinkable breach of long-settled norms to something so expected that the actual event may feel like an anticlimax." 

Basically, when you shift the norms, you shift them absolutely; not just against your opponents.  I think Trump is constitutionally incapable of understanding that.

"Some strident Trump critics felt that any attempt to prosecute was too fraught to consider, while others felt the rule of law demanded comprehensive investigations and charges if justified, no matter when any crimes occurred," he wrote before adding, "The point is that there was a robust debate. Somewhere that slipped away."

"In a way, Trump has fallen victim to his own trick. During his first campaign and his presidency, he would introduce some astonishing concept, weather the initial backlash, and then repeat it until the population had become numb to it," he explained. "And after all, it was Trump who first normalized the idea of prosecuting a rival presidential candidate. (Perhaps he regrets that now.)" 

Part of the argument for prosecution of Presidents not being normal is based on the example of Ford pardoning Nixon.  But that pardon was hardly popular at the time, and was certainly a major factor in Ford being the only unelected POTUS in history.  There wasn't really a widespread consensus that he done a good thing, in other words.  Which undercuts the theory that Trump single-handedly altered the situation and put himself in the cross-hairs by projecting (that seems to be the real argument here) onto Hillary Clinton is own predilections.

Maybe it's just a simple case of Trump going too far.  It's not like we need a political consensus to prosecute a former President.  And it's also not like Trump is facing prosecution for policy actions or official, legal actions, he carried out as President.  No more than Nixon was facing impeachment for policy disagreements or over a mere political disagreement.  The grounds for criminal prosecution do not usually take politics into account; not when there isn't enough evidence to make the case to a a jury of non-politicians and non-political pundits. 

But I came to this post, initially, because of that parenthetical in the last quoted paragraph:  "(Perhaps he regrets that now.)"  Yeah, I don't think so:

.@realDonaldTrump claims Nixon's 'biggest regret' was quitting under GOP pressure — which he would never dohttps://t.co/VfH5DNuvJr

— Raw Story (@RawStory) March 10, 2023

Trump is the bride at every wedding, the corpse at every funeral, the birthday boy at every birthday party:

The man who eulogized his father by explaining at length to mourners that he, Donald, was his father's greatest accomplishment. https://t.co/GskajJByLp

— George Conway🌻 (@gtconway3d) March 10, 2023

And all he's running on is grievance and how unjust the world is to him. Oh, and how unjust it is that anyone would consider anything he ever did worthy of criminal investigation.  He has the self-awareness of a stuffed animal.

Maybe Trump moved the goalposts by accusing his opponents of crimes when he is the one now facing serious investigations and probably indictments.  Or maybe he just did it by his actions; you know, the way Richard "I am not a crook!" Nixon did.