During the past week, the Trump administration announced three separate but connected decisions that are so outrageous they may lead to his comeuppance. Collectively, they reward lawlessness and undermine our democracy’s very foundations.

First, the Department of Justice announced the establishment of a $1,776,000,000 fund to compensate “victims” of the previous administration’s “weaponisation” of the law by “unfairly investigating and punishing them”. Then, as a quid pro quo, Mr Trump agreed to drop his questionable $10 billion lawsuit against the Internal Revenue Service, which he charged with failing to stop a contractor from leaking one of his tax returns to the media in 2019. Finally, the DOJ added an amendment to the “victims’ fund” stating: “The United States releases, waives, and forever discharges [Trump, his family, his business] and is hereby forever barred and precluded from prosecuting or pursuing, any and all claims [that] have been or could have been asserted [by the IRS against them or] related or affiliated individuals.”

Each alone is problematic, but their connection is most troubling. The judge........

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