All the chatter about how "Trump won't be able to pardon himself on the Georgia criminal charges" reinforces the emerging prevailing wisdom that Trump will pardon himself of the federal charges if he returns to the presidency.
The underlying assumption seems to be that a self-pardon is legal. Back in 2020, when Trump was still in office and was already talking about pardoning himself, the prevailing wisdom was that self-pardon was legally dubious and might not hold up in court.
While it is funny to note how prevailing wisdom can drift without any self-reflection on the part of the chattering classes, in this case I think the chatterers might be right. The bottom line is that a self-pardon has never been tested in court and I think it should not be upheld. But a 6-3 Supreme Court majority is willing to disregard any standards or standing requirements to get the partisan outcome they want. So the drift in prevailing opinion about the self-pardon might be right.
