The Chieftain’s Shamans

Timothy Snyder: “The legal theory of Trump’s coup attempt, made explicit in argument before the Supreme Court, is that the chieftain is immune to law.  There is magic around the chieftain’s person, such that he need respond only to himself.  The words ‘presidential immunity’ are an incantation directed to directed to people in black robes, summoning them to act as the chieftain’s shamans and confirm his magical status.”

“Some of the people in black robes, Supreme Court justices, like being shamans. Our shamans are allowed to take bribes from those who support the chieftain, and also allowed to claim that as magicians, people unlike others, they are unaffected by them. If there is any doubt, our shamans tell us, they can be trusted to be judges in their own case.”