No Donald, you don’t. Nobody has absolute rights to anything. That’s Democracy. That’s the Rule of Law.
It’s enshrined in the US Constitution. It’s actually the only absolute: There are no absolutes. That’s why we have a court system. It’s why there is a Supreme Court, in front of whom lawyers argue weighty issues.
It also confirms something I’ve long suspected: Donald Trump doesn’t understand what being President is, or what the President does. I’m not sure if he thinks he’s an emperor, or just wishes he was one. That really doesn’t matter.
This attitude is deific. The idea that he is so above the law that he can pardon his own crimes is the heart of the matter. No, Russia is not the side show, but he’s telling us that he probably did do it — it just doesn’t matter. And Trump and his cronies have all but publically admitted to one piece of obstruction of justice, and still telling us it doesn’t matter. Where Trump and Co are concerned, he’s a great dictator — a man with absolute power and no need for reckoning or responsibility to and for anybody else.
It also plays into his clearly narcissist mentality (or disorder, or neurosis, or whatever). He alone can fix it. This “Russia thing” with “Trump and Russia.” Be my traditional ally and I’ll walk all over you, but be an enemy that sucks up to me and you’ll become my best friend. Don’t hog my headlines. It’s all about me. Me, me, me.
Well, before Trump and his enablers slide us completely down the tunnel of darkness, there is this:
OPM: Other People Matter
Specifically, over 300 million of them. The rest of America matters. That’s why there are no absolutes.
For years Donald Trump has avoided his own absolutes in his personal and business life. That is a matter of public record. Legally, he’s managed to avoid just about every penalty resulting from his own bad behavior and failure by settling in civil court.
There are no settlements in criminal court. There will be a reckoning of legal and political consequence for him — it’s just a matter of what shape that takes and when it happens.
Because when you are President of the United States, Donald, that’s actually all about us.