One of a president’s principal responsibilities under the U.S. Constitution is to ensure that the nation’s laws are “faithfully executed.” The Constitution also requires that laws be applied equally to all citizens. And in a tradition that goes back to the Magna Carta, our democracy operates on the assumption that no one — not even the president — is above the law. 

That changed in July 2024, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that presidents cannot be prosecuted for breaking the law while performing their “core” duties. In addition, a Justice Department rule shields presidents from prosecution while they are in office. 

Presidents can still be impeached and removed by Congress. The vice president can also orchestrate a president’s removal if a majority of the Cabinet declares him unable to fulfill his duties. That process, authorized by Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, has never been used. 

These sanctions have rarely been necessary, because most presidents have accepted moral and ethical accountability, even when their conduct is not strictly prohibited by law. President Trump is different. He is loath to accept any limits on his behavior, and the current Congress has refused to impose any. 

Trump is not intimidated by his unprecedented pair of impeachments, nor by the 88 criminal charges filed against him between his terms in office, nor by his conviction on 34 criminal charges. He has carried his contempt for the law into the nation’s highest office. 

In his second term, Trump is doing more than ignoring legal and ethical constraints on his behavior. He is helping his allies escape legal accountability, too. He has subverted equal justice to create two classes of citizens: one privileged, the other persecuted. 

The privileged group includes around 1,500 supporters who participated in the Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021. As president, Trump not only released them from jail and erased most of their criminal records, but he also wants to pay them millions of taxpayer dollars in restitution for the inconvenience of facing justice for trying to overturn a lawful election.

Trump has also granted pardons to people who have given him political donations and financial favors, as well as to colleagues with whom he has direct financial or political ties. This pay-to-play scheme is wildly unethical, but the Constitution does not limit the president’s pardon power. At last count, Trump’s pardons had not only deprived victims of justice; they also wiped out nearly $2 billion in court-ordered fines, forfeitures and restitution for victims and taxpayers. 

This privileged group apparently includes the 1,835 loyalists Trump has appointed to federal jobs as well as his 22 Cabinet-level officers. He has promised to issue mass pardons to “everyone who has come within 200 feet of the Oval” before he leaves office. 

Thus protected, members of his Cabinet have openly lied to Congress and ignored laws. For example, acting Attorney General Todd Blanche refuses to comply with the bipartisan law that requires him to release all files related to sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. The withheld files may contain additional references to Trump.

They also contain the allegations against the “Epstein class” — that is, other rich and prominent people who live lives of leisure, lack moral scruples and could have been involved in Epstein’s crimes. The Justice Department has prosecuted none of them, except for Epstein’s colleague, Ghislaine Maxwell.

The untouchables also appear to include tens of thousands of federal immigration and border officers, including some who should be charged with civil rights violations and even killings. They are allowed to wear masks, the kit of cowards and criminals, so that they can’t be identified. It has months since ICE agents killed U.S. citizens Alex Pretti and Renee Good during protests in Minnesota. Both cases remain unresolved. 

Trump has not ruled out pardoning himself for acts outside the Supreme Court’s protection. He claims he has the “absolute right,” although no previous president has exercised it.

What about the second group of thos whom Trump has turned the Justice Department against? The department is investigating, indicting or prosecuting Trump’s perceived enemies using unsubstantiated allegations and the thinnest of pretexts. They include former FBI Director James Comey, indicted for taking and sharing a photo of seashells. 

This group includes legal and illegal immigrants in the U.S., among them at least 3,800 children, arrested and detained, deported or imprisoned. Under the law, they have the same rights as citizens, yet many have been denied due process. This group also includes untold numbers of Americans the Trump administration brands as domestic terrorists and insurgents, simply because they lean left. Yet, the administration mostly ignores far-right groups whose history shows they are far more likely to be violent.

It is no longer accurate to say that Trump aspires to be an autocrat, king or dictator. With his self-serving sabotage of the rule of law, he is already there.