What did Donald Trump do today?

He told Israel's President that he should pardon Prime Minister Netanyahu, who is under indictment for almost as many crimes as Trump. 

In a speech to the Israeli Knesset today, Trump addressed Isaac Herzog, the President of Israel:

Hey, I have an idea, Mr. President, why don't you give him [Netanyahu] a pardon? Give him — by the way that was not in this speech as you probably know, but I happen to like this gentleman right over here and it just seems to make so much sense, you know, whether we like it or not, this has been one of the greatest wartime presidents, this is—been—one of the greatest wartime presidents, and cigars and shar—champagne, who the hell cares about it? Alright, enough controversy for the day, I don’t think it’s that controversial.

Netanyahu, a political ally with a gift for manipulating Trump to his own advantage, was indeed indicted for accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in illegal and undisclosed gifts from a billionaire media mogul, some of which took the form of luxury items like champagne. He was also investigated for four other separate criminal cases, two of which went to trial and also dealt with corrupt bargains with media outlets. 

Unlike in American practice, Netanyahu is neither immune from prosecution while he is in office nor entitled to a stay of his trails, though he has used the powers of his office to stretch them out into multi-year affairs with no real end in sight. (Herzog, as President, has the authority to pardon him, but the presidency of Israel is mostly ceremonial and Herzog represents a party in the sizable anti-Netanyahu opposition. Netanyahu, like Trump, is deeply unpopular in spite of holding power for now.)

Under normal circumstances, a foreign leader trying to dictate the terms of an internal political matter he has a vested interest in would be a huge diplomatic crisis, though with Trump that seems to be priced in. But it does reveal what is perhaps Trump's most consistent position: that corruption, or bribery at the level of individuals or nations, or even disloyalty to your own country isn't wrong as long as you're getting away with it. 

One startling recent example is Trump's refusal to fire his so-called Border Czar, Tom Homan, even after it was revealed that Homan was caught on tape in 2024 accepting a bag with $50,000 cash in it from undercover FBI agents. The money was in exchange for political favors Homan said he would do if and when Trump was re-elected. The DOJ killed the case after Trump's former defense attorney Pam Bondi was appointed to lead it. (Bondi may not even make Homan give the money back.)

Trump has, of course, used pardons as a political weapon himself. He's issued them almost as a matter of routine to various family members and his own political operatives. But he's also made a point of granting pardons to people convicted of crimes he himself has committed or been accused of committing—a very long list that includes corruption, tax fraud, theft of classified material, solicitation of bribery, election law violations, misuse of charitable donations, perjury, and, of course, attempting to mount an insurrection to overturn the results of the 2020 election and keep Trump in power.
 

Why does this matter?

• "People should be allowed to get away with crimes if they're successful" isn't how it's supposed to work in any democracy. 

• Donald Trump isn't King of Israel, either.