The panoply of defenses that Donald Trump and his parking lot lawyers have floated for his multitude of crimes have run the gamut from “I’m allowed to do it,” to “everybody does it,” to “it’s a witch hunt,” to “they’re all out to get me.” Rarely does he ever bother to assert the most obvious exculpatory position: that he’s actually innocent.

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Perhaps the reason that Trump so studiously avoids claiming innocence is that he knows that he’s guilty, and he’s proud of it. Trump goes on daily rants wherein he whines that he is the victim of a justice system that is determined to destroy his already putrid reputation. It’s hard to recall any criminal defendant being more disrespectful to prosecutors, judges, witnesses, prospective jurors, and the press, than Trump. He is spitting in the faces of those who hold his fate in their hands. And he vows to get revenge.

SEE THIS: Herr Trump Decrees: If Media Doesn’t Air My Speeches They Should Have Their Licenses Revoked

In another demonstration of Trump’s bellicose belligerence, he posted a comment on his failing social media scam, Truth Social, that nicely summarizes the core theme of his criminal defense strategy. It proposes a form of “presidential immunity” that indemnifies him from prosecution for whatever crime he has committed. Whether it be financial fraud, or inciting a violent insurrection, or threatening election officials, or stealing (and perhaps disseminating) classified documents. In his characteristic all-caps caterwauling, he wrote that…

“A PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES MUST HAVE FULL IMMUNITY, WITHOUT WHICH IT WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE FOR HIM/HER TO PROPERLY FUNCTION. ANY MISTAKE, EVEN IF WELL INTENDED, WOULD BE MET WITH ALMOST CERTAIN INDICTMENT BY THE OPPOSING PARTY AT TERM END. EVEN EVENTS THAT ‘CROSS THE LINE’ MUST FALL UNDER TOTAL IMMUNITY, OR IT WILL BE YEARS OF TRAUMA TRYING TO DETERMINE GOOD FROM BAD. THERE MUST BE CERTAINTY.”

Of course, there is no legal precedent that permits a president to violate the law at will. To the contrary, America has a long history of holding that no one – no matter their status or privilege – is above the law.

Trump’s claim that it would be impossible to make a decision without the guarantee of total immunity is absurd in the extreme. It would allow a president to freely incarcerate or assassinate his political foes. He could dispose of any unfriendly Senators, Supreme Court Justices, and journalists, without having to worry about the consequences. What’s more, his decisions that have landed him in legal hot water have nothing to do with the conduct of presidential duties.

And lest anyone believes that Trump just didn’t think this through, or had not considered the legal free-for-all he was suggesting, he included in his statement that “EVEN EVENTS THAT ‘CROSS THE LINE’ MUST FALL UNDER TOTAL IMMUNITY.” It’s fair to say that the 91 felony charges that Trump is currently facing cross the line. Not to mention unlawful detention and extrajudicial murder. But Trump wasn’t finished. He continued with an…

“EXAMPLE: YOU CAN’T STOP POLICE FROM DOING THE JOB OF STRONG & EFFECTIVE CRIME PREVENTION BECAUSE YOU WANT TO GUARD AGAINST THE OCCASIONAL ‘ROGUE COP’ OR ‘BAD APPLE.’ SOMETIMES YOU JUST HAVE TO LIVE WITH ‘GREAT BUT SLIGHTLY IMPERFECT.’ ALL PRESIDENTS MUST HAVE COMPLETE & TOTAL PRESIDENTIAL IMMUNITY, OR THE AUTHORITY & DECISIVENESS OF A PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES WILL BE STRIPPED & GONE FOREVER. HOPEFULLY THIS WILL BE AN EASY DECISION. GOD BLESS THE SUPREME COURT!”

So Trump is comparing himself to a “rogue cop” who he believes is an acceptable “imperfection” in the legal system. He is arguing that you can’t have safe and effective crime prevention unless the police are permitted to shoot innocent bystanders or take bribes from drug dealers. He is apparently unaware that law enforcement officers who break the law are not immune from prosecution. Nor should they be.

Trump believes that if presidents have to worry about complying with the law it will hamper their decision making. That’s obviously not true. Although it might hamper their making a decision to violate the law, but that’s a good thing, unless, of course, you’re Donald Trump.

Finally, Trump is quite right to hope that “THIS WILL BE AN EASY DECISION.” But under the circumstance, his conclusion for god to bless the Supreme Court sounds more like a threat. Which, if they give him the immunity that he’s asking for, it might very well turn out to be just that.

UPDATE: Trump has contradicted his argument for presidential immunity, asserting that, for some reason, it doesn’t apply to President Biden.

RELATED STORIES:

• WTF? Trump Attorney Says He Should Be Free to Defame, Wrongfully Jail, and Incite Insurrections
• YEAH, RIGHT! After a Mad Tantrum, Judge Warns Trump’s Attorneys to ‘Please Control Your Client’
• Trump Lawyer Complains that Just Factually Reporting His Legal Problems is Election Interference

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