As I've noted before, Trump has sold his fans a fantasy that they can enjoy the same impunity he does. It's one of his most attractive traits, to them. That he can be so selfish and cruel and never be punished. They want to emulate that, and they often try to. https://twitter.com/BrandyZadrozny/status/1350593360889786369

There's that old paraphrase of Steinbeck that goes, "the American poor see themselves as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."

Well, Trump's hardcore fans view themselves as temporarily embarrassed Trumps.

That's been core to his appeal, and why you see that his base is made up of middle management, business owners, and even CEOs, rather than the working class. They want the impunity Trump seems to enjoy.

These are the people you've argued with online for years, who treat any request to be respectful as an assault on their freedom, who chafe at HR seminars and diversity training, who eagerly took to "fuck your feelings" as a slogan.

And in Trump there was a model of "success" without piety. A man who could say or do whatever he wanted, whom no law, norm, or moral precept could touch. They want some of that in their own lives, and believed he could build an America where it was possible.

So who can claim to be shocked that these people don't think they did anything wrong? Or that they're brazenly going on camera to ask for pardons? That's how Trump's world works: the law is for other people.

Recall that popular Frank Wilhoit quote about conservatism's core idea: "there must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect."

Trumpism is that proposition on black market steroids.

White supremacy is key to Trump's appeal, but racists are a dime-a-dozen in American politics. What Trump added to the brew was this gospel of impunity, the promise that you'd never have to say you're sorry again. Which made the bigotry he preached all the more dangerous.

Accounts of Republicans-turned-Trump-fans becoming deeply awful people are legion. Trump promised his fans they could be as cruel as they liked and no one would stop them. Invariably they're shocked when Trump's impunity rarely transfers to his fans. Like right now.