An article on Politico today begins with the words:

President Donald Trump is considering preemptively pardoning as many as 20 aides and associates before leaving office, frustrating Republicans who believe offering legal reprieves to his friends and family members could backfire. Trump’s strategy, like much of his presidency, is nontraditional.

I am so weary of hearing Trump’s behavior described as “untraditional.” It’s like saying that if I rob my bank instead of cashing a check there, my banking is untraditional. Most of what Trump has done that could be call untraditional is of two kinds. Sometimes he has blundered or offended or broken the law because he did not know any better. More often, what political euphemism calls “untraditional” has been immoral, illegal, or criminal. “Preemptively pardoning”! Does this new kind of pardon, like baptism, forgive all offences? What if Giuliani and Jared and Stephen Miller have been running a secret white slavery ring on the side for the last four years? Would this novel “preemptive pardon” prevent their being prosecuted for white slavery?

We should all have seen this coming. It simply makes sense. If Al Capone had been elected Governor of Illinois, as he left the governor’s mansion on his way to  prison he would have issued pardons to his entire gang. That Trump would attempt something like this is only to be expected. I recall it was reported at some point that our “untraditional” leader told his staff to go ahead and break the law because he would pardon them if they were caught. Surely Trump’s gang has been taking it for granted that he will hand out pardons all around on his way out of the White House.