'Profound lawlessness': Columnist imagines how Trump's second term spirals out of control

The first day of President Donald Trump’s new administration offered plenty of fodder for political observers, as well as a window into where the country is heading in the next four years, a New York Times columnist said Tuesday.

And it’s not hard to see how things could quickly become unglued, according to opinion writer David French, who told readers that Trump’s second term presents the “ultimate test” of the rule of law.

“You can paint a picture where the combination of Trump’s obstinance, the total unyielding loyalty of MAGA, plus the abuse of the pardon power — which he’s established as of right now as having no real limits in his mind — create a situation of absolutely sustained and profound lawlessness,” French said during a conversation with fellow Times columnists Patrick Healy and Michelle Goldberg.

French added that it wasn’t too far out to envision a chaotic scenario unfolding where federal courts issued injunctions, which Trump subsequently instructs people to defy.

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“Courts issue contempt orders, where you otherwise would imprison somebody for failing to comply with court orders,” he said. “Then Trump issues pardons in those circumstances.”

The potential for that situation brought French to what he saw as a key measure of “the rule of law in Trump Version 2."

“Will he comply with adverse rulings from the Supreme Court?” French pondered. “That is going to be the real test of how much of the rule of law we have left.”

He added that the potential where Trump outright “defies the Supreme Court” absolutely exists, and noted that past rulings have shown that even with a conservative supermajority, the high court, “has turned back MAGA legal arguments many, many times."

“There’s a sense in which it’s a very real possibility that the next step in the attack on the rule of law is just outright defiance of the Supreme Court,” he concluded.