Biden: I will not pardon Trump

One reason Trump's reelection campaign will become feral and unhinged is the likelihood of his prosecution as soon as presidential immunity comes to an end. Joe Biden, his presumptive challenger, promised last night that he would not pardon Trump.

"Absolutely. Yes," Biden said in response to a voter asking him to commit to letting any future prosecution play out. "Hands off, completely."

Given Biden's anachronistic "bipartisan" ideals and his obvious sense of kinship with GOP colleagues, his pardoning Trump was a genuine and growing fear. I'm glad to see he isn't that naive.

Richard Nixon resigned and was pardoned by his successor, Gerald Ford, in 1974-a controversial decision long suspected (albeit with only circumstantial evidence) to have been a quid-pro-quo.

If Trump does lose, is there anything (other than paranoia) preventing him from resigning early in the expectation that his Vice President, Mike Pence, would briefly succeed him and pardon him before the winner took office?