Friday afternoon in Trumpland
By 
Commenter Prospero’s Ghost points out in a comment to Scott’s post below that we’re in the following Kafkaesque or Orwellian situation at the moment:
Trump has unilaterally slapped heavy tariffs on our biggest trading partners. This is legal because Congress recklessly gave presidents the legal power to impose tariffs unilaterally, which isn’t a good idea when it turns out the People In Their Wisdom select an imbecile criminal lunatic as president.
If a company from one of these countries offers Trump a bribe to waive or lower the tariff in regard to its goods, Trump can accept this quid pro quo OUT IN THE OPEN and there IS NOTHING THAT CAN BE DONE ABOUT IT. (I mean in theory he could be impeached and convicted but under current political circumstances that’s obviously just as impossible as holding a snap presidential election).
Because of the combined wisdom of the Office of Legal Counsel and John Motherfucking Roberts, Trump is immune from prosecution both while he is president and forever after — issuing unilateral “emergency” tariffs being a core presidential function — without even having to pardon himself (which he could also do if it were necessary, which it isn’t because see supra).
When the criminal and civil law fails as utterly as it has, the only legal constraints on Trump are political consequences, but there are barely any that he might conceivably care about. He’s not eligible for re-election so any continuing political career after his term would be purely extra-legal. He could not possibly care less if his criminal actions wreck the Republican party, because he obviously doesn’t care about that in the slightest.
Again this isn’t some off the wall “theory” of the annoying law professor hypothetical variety. It’s a completely straightforward and incontestable description of the laws of the United States at this moment.
I half expect Trump will do this, or something like it, just because he can. And the Republican party will stand behind him because there isn’t any Republican party any more that’s in any meaningful sense independent of whatever Donald Trump wants to do on a Friday afternoon.
As to what everybody else is going to do, that’s up to us.