Should Trump Be Given Deference Because He Is a Former President?

Trump is facing possible indictment in federal and state jurisdictions for at least four crimes. The least important of these appears to be imminent. Trump recently said that he would be arrested today — he called on the populace to stage protests.

Many prominent Republicans, including right-wing media figures and potential political rivals of Trump, have parroted his complaint that he is being persecuted. Trump’s allies have tried and continue to try to persuade the public that it would be a terrible thing to indict a former president, that it would introduce a culture of political retaliation that would imperil our democracy. They urge that Trump be treated with special deference,

This disingenuous line of argument reminds me of a sentence in an opinion by the great jurist Benjamin Cardozo: “A fiduciary is held to something higher than the standards of the marketplace.”

As President of the United States, Trump had a fiduciary duty to all its citizens; yet, because of his former status as President, his supporters and apologists urge that he be held to a lower standard –– in fact, lower than that required in the marketplace! I have a good idea what Cardozo would say to that.