So, this happened:

https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1003616210922147841

Dude just said he could pardon himself. Dude just implied that he and he alone has the power to be his own judge and jury. Dude thinks he’s above the whole concept of a justice system.

Yes, he’s not surprising anyone with this lunacy of undermining the entire concept of a justice system or the fact that this will for sure make him a straight up dictator. But he might actually be able to do it.

For anyone who hasn’t been paying attention/anyone too afraid to read the news because of this sort of terrifying nonsense. Donald is referring to the investigation which is currently trying to tie his campaign with Russian collusion, a legal and necessary investigation that he fondly refers to as the ‘Witch Hunt.’

‘As has been stated by numerous legal scholars, I have the absolute right to PARDON myself, but why would I do that when I have done nothing wrong? In the meantime, the never ending Witch Hunt, led by 13 very Angry and Conflicted Democrats (& others) continues into the mid-terms!’

For more on Trump’s nouns read Terrible Trump Abuses Capitalization on Twitter

Now, while this does seem like a ridiculous notion, he does insist that he has the ‘absolute right’ to go ahead and pardon himself if found guilty of collusion, and this in itself is cause for concern. Bloomberg yesterday weighed in on the matter. They concluded that although the Justice Department told Richard Nixon that he couldn’t pardon himself during the Watergate scandal, that doesn’t mean this advice or reasoning will be taken on board by the Donald.

During the Watergate scandal, the Office of Legal Counsel responded to concerns that Nixon may attempt to pardon himself. The acting assistant Attorney General at the time, Mary Lawton, came to the obvious conclusion that no, of course he couldn't. She reasoned that ‘under the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case, the president cannot pardon himself.’ It is worth noting that Nixon didn’t seek this advice, and his former Whitehouse counsel, John Dean, stated that he didn’t recall Nixon ever discussing any intention to attempt to pardon himself. Drumpf has threatened it.

Bloomberg quoted Dean as saying that any attempt to pardon himself would likely lead to ‘immediate articles of impeachment against Trump that would overtake any legal case working its way through the courts.’ There is sufficient case law that says that accepting a pardon is an admission of guilt, which implies that even discussion a pardon is an admission of guilt; as if Trump’s defensive, frightened and erratic attempts at discrediting the investigation isn’t transparent enough.

The Guardian collated a host of responses from experts on the matter, including quoting the Republican House majority leader, Kevin McCarthy. McCarthy, during an interview on CNN just one day before the president’s tweet asked, ironically; ‘why we’re walking through hypotheticals.’ He went on to say that ‘I don’t think a president should pardon themselves’ and that ‘the president has never said he’d pardon himself. I don’t know where the president would go forward pardoning himself.’ Clearly, he wasn’t expecting this.

So, what? People don’t think he should pardon himself. But he still might be able to and regard for what experts think he should do obviously has no sway in the mind of the POTUS. Trump, as president, certainly has the right to pardon those convicted of criminal acts, and has already done so. There is also no amendment to this right that anyone can find that explicitly says ‘apart from himself.’ So what are the options for a court to use against this kind of move?

Alan M. Dershowitz, a contributor for The Hill, has given a well reasoned examination of the actual law involved when it comes to the possibility for presidential self-pardon. He argues that since a sitting president cannot be indicted, tried and convicted for a crime while serving in office, there is no real need for Trump to pardon himself until the last day of his presidency - whether that be the end of his term or due to impeachment. Once he is a normal citizen again though, he can then be tried for any crime committed during or previous to his presidency. Waiting until the end of the presidency is surely the safest option for Trump since, as stated above, it is seen as an admission of guilt to accept a pardon. Should he pardon himself during his presidency he will be effectively admitting guilt and likely be immediately impeached. Either way, it’s a very bad look.

For Trump to suggest pardoning himself clearly threatens the very fabric of what ajustice system is - a system in which someone obviously cannot be their own judge. Not only this, but the fact he has done so looks like another defensive admission of guilt that you might expect from a child whose mother is yet to discover the paint (or writing) on the wall. Trump is threatening democracy again, and is looking nothing like the democratic leader he is supposed to be. His actions are looking much more like that of a king or a dictator - the latter being a comparison that Trump clearly doesn’t need any more of.

Tldr: yes, probably, but no, it isn’t likely he will (unless he’s an ill-advised, stupid, irrational lunatic: which he is). Sorry.