Should Trump Pardon Himself?

In English, the modal verb “should” has two distinct, yet related, meanings.  When we want to say that someone has a moral obligation to do a certain thing, we say that he should do it.  But we say that exact same thing when we want to suggest that a person will experience a good result if he does a certain thing, e.g., “You should get a job in banking.”

It is for this reason that the title of the article Why Trump shouldn’t pardon himself is ambiguous–until one gets into the body of the piece.  As it turns out, the discussion is solely focused on the practical implications of this decision that the president, apparently, is free to make.

From the article: I have written all of this while ignoring what some will consider the more salient question of whether Trump pardoning himself is the morally appropriate course of action. This has been intentional.

Great reading.