Donald Trump is many things, but a gentleman he is not.

That’s a problem for anyone hoping the 47th president of the United States governs like an actual president and not as a monarch, because a shocking number of legal norms are just that: norms. Not laws, but customs. Gentlemen’s agreements.

There’s no law that says a president can’t pardon himself. There’s no act of Congress requiring the Office of White House Counsel to act in good faith. There’s no statute instructing the Department of Justice to be staffed with independent career professionals.

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That means that while most presidents make a good-faith effort to uphold the system and follow legal........

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