“There’s no posse and there’s no retinue and there’s no family,” says Chris Hayes on Trump’s arraignment. “The guy is alone. He is solo rolling with the lawyers who hope his checks clear.”
I was told in my local pub yesterday that someone with a criminal record can still be president. But I’m British, and drink with people who chat shit. The landlord in said pub also said that Oceangate was eaten by a megalodon, and landlords like to chat shit.
Someone who is literally in jail can become President, technically. What the day-to-day reality of that would be, I’ve no clue. But it’s technically possible, and we’ve had people (most notably Eugene Debs) run from behind bars.
Theoretically, on the federal charges, but not any state charges (such as the ones expected to be brought in Georgia)
Of course, a self-pardon has never been tested, and while the composition of the Supreme Court should be favorable to him doing so, it’s not guaranteed that they would actually be on board. There would be a constitutional crisis if he tried to self-pardon, and the Supreme Court ruled that he could not (which could be nearly solved by impeachment of either the President or various Justices, but that will not happen under the present dysfunction of the Senate)
