Presidential "Kingsmanship" ~ Donald Trump disregards the law

Donald Trump has a "Czar syndrome" ~ he wants to be above the law

It's impossible to understand how any person who is innocent of a crime would strive to obstruct the process of justice, put in place to "protect the innocent". Yet, that's exactly what Donald Trump is doing by continuing to raise red flags about his complicity in illegal 2016 campaign activities and communications with Russia. In so doing, Donald Trump is putting himself above the law, while, at the same time, fueling the preponderance of evidence growing about his  presidential campaign's illegal (and some would say "treasonous") communications.

Here's an echo editorial published by the editors of the Nebraska Omaha World-Herald

Omaha ~ There’s been much chatter of late over whether President Donald Trump has the legal authority to pardon himself if he’s charged with or convicted of a crime. That legal discussion, though, is sidestepping the real issue.

A self-pardon by Trump — or by any president in the future — would raise immense concern because it would signal that a president considered himself above the law. There’s no question this would trigger a national crisis, and rightly so.

The president is bound by the law, the same as any other citizen. This is a foundational principle for our country, and any president who tries to undermine it would plunge the nation into an unprecedented emergency.

We live, after all, in a republic, not a monarchy. During their constitutional debates, our nation’s founders talked at length about the dangers of demagoguery and dictatorship and the need to erect a system of government that would disperse power to ensure that no single branch of government — and certainly no one president — could achieve absolute power.

A presidential self-pardon would precisely be an assertion of absolute power.

It’s troubling enough that in a tweet this week, the president asserted his self-pardoning power — troubling, because it indicated he regards the concept as worthwhile and something he’d actually consider employing. Such a pardon, in the face of criminal indictment or conviction, would be grossly irresponsible. It would sacrifice the nation for the benefit of presidential vanity.

But right now there are no indictments against the president, and it’s entirely possible there never will be.

The proper path is for the investigation by former FBI Director Robert Mueller to proceed to its conclusion, as Republicans such as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Charles Grassley, the Judiciary Committee chairman, have consistently said. Any attempt to derail that process would itself raise grave concern.

America is a nation of laws. That bedrock principle deserves to be embraced and supported by all Americans — above all, by our president.