Pardon Me?

A friend asked:

Doesn't the pardon violate his oath to preserve protect and defend the Constitution?

Me:

The oath of office is not legally binding, but pardon power is enshrined in law.

However, acceptance of the pardon constitutes acknowledgement of guilt, opening this mofo up for a host of civil lawsuits by his victims. Also, being pardoned, and thus acknowledging guilt, forfeits your fifth amendment right not to testify. You have to testify if asked, and face perjury if you lie.

If Trump pardons freely to targets of the Russian investigation, it will come back to haunt him in both these ways, plus he'd risk a much, much deeper split with Senate Republicans.

Him:

Can't they just be pardoned for the perjury as well?

Me:

Yes, absolutely.

But while I realize a lot of people feel we’re on the brink of full-blown brown-shirted autocracy because Trump condemned a small group of clownish half-wits with less than full-throated vehemence and telegraphs bad intentions he's too incompetent to ever fulfill, we’re actually at like a 1.1 on the tyranny 1-to-10 scale (we’re so spoiled by American status quo that this increment feels like the end of our world). But if Trump starts giving out pardons like Tic Tacs, granting supplemental pardons for perjured compelled testimony, etc, that would be a huge step, raising us to a 2 or 3. And there will be repercussions, becase we have a system designed to handle this - just not as quickly as many of us foolishly demand.

Liberals have been asking since day one why Congress won't get off its ass and remove this guy. But then again, Liberals blew all their powder Inaugural week, expressing their utter dissatisfaction with the other half of the country electing a candidate they dislike. Again, we’re actually only at a 1.1 (and Congress is doing stuff, from the Russian sanctions block to proposed legislation to protect Mueller, to the overt war with McConnel), and we’re freaking the heck out because we’re spoiled princesses accustomed to a smooth status quo completely aberrational in human history (while we should definitely push back against every incremental step, including this disgusting pardon, the freaking out doesn't help).

BUT...if we ratchet up to a 2 or 3, that’s an entirely other ballgame.