Could Donald Trump pardon himself, if he’s elected president again? And if another Republican wins the White House in 2024, will he or she pardon Trump?

We don’t know. But here’s what we do know: Joe Biden could pardon Trump right now. And he should, on one condition: that Trump promises never to run for office again.

When Gerald Ford pardoned Richard Nixon in 1974, he famously declared that “our long national nightmare is over.” But our present-day nightmare will not be over until we know that Trump won’t return to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

That wasn’t a risk in the case of Nixon. He had already been elected president twice, so under the 22nd Amendment, he couldn’t run again.

Advertisement

Trump can, of course, even if he’s convicted in one of the indictments against him. There’s nothing in the Constitution that explicitly bars lawbreakers from the White House. You can even run for president from prison: Socialist Eugene Debs, jailed for criticizing America’s involvement in World War I, racked up nearly a million votes from behind bars in 1920.

And if Trump wins, whether from prison or not, it’s possible that he could grant himself a pardon. Nixon considered doing the same until the U.S. Department of Justice issued a ruling — three days before he resigned — that “[u]nder the fundamental rule that no one may be a judge in his own case, the president cannot pardon himself.” But the matter has never been tested, and some experts think Trump could do it.

And if he loses to another Republican, they’re likely to pardon him. Nikki Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy have already said they would be inclined to pardon Trump. His closest GOP rival, Ron DeSantis, declared that a pardon would be preferable to having “an almost 80-year-old former president go to prison.”

I wouldn’t shed any tears if the aging Trump was jailed, especially in the case alleging that he tried to overturn the results of the 2020 election. And if he’s not held accountable, I’d worry that other presidents might try the same stunt.

But that’s a problem for the future. For the moment, we face a much more immediate threat: another Trump presidency. It’s impossible to calculate the damage that he could do to America if he returns to power. So we need to do everything in our power to make sure that never happens, including offering him a pardon in exchange for a promise that he won’t run again.

And yes, presidents can attach conditions to pardons. Abraham Lincoln offered amnesty to defeated Confederates if they agreed to swear allegiance to the Union. Bill Clinton awarded clemency to Puerto Rican separatists — charged in over 100 bombings — if they renounced violence. And Nixon commuted the sentence of Teamsters leader Jimmy Hoffa on the condition that Hoffa refrain from engaging in union politics.

Eager to reenter the fray after his release, Hoffa filed a lawsuit to overturn the bargain. But a federal court turned him away, ruling that presidents have “unfettered discretion” in awarding pardons. There’s no question that President Biden could offer a similar deal to Trump: He gets to go free, but only if America is freed of the prospect of Trump holding political office.

Would Trump take that deal? As evidence mounts against him — and with it, the likelihood of jail time — he just might do it. Trump is a bully, and bullies are usually cowards.

Nixon was. Before Ford pardoned him, Nixon told friends in Congress that he was “having nightmares about being in prison and the cell door swinging shut,” as historian Michael Beschloss has recounted. It’s easy to imagine Trump having similarly bad dreams.

Biden’s pardon would only cover federal crimes, so Trump could still face penalties — including prison — in cases brought by states, including New York and Georgia. That would bring a measure of accountability for some of his misdeeds, while the federal pardon would eliminate his opportunity to wreak more havoc on the country.

Asked recently by a reporter what he thought about “presidents pardoning Trump,” Biden laughed. But then he added, “It’s a great question. Thank you.” We would be forever thankful to Biden if he rid us of Donald Trump. And the only surefire way to do that, ironically, is to give Trump a way out.

Jonathan Zimmerman teaches education and history at the University of Pennsylvania. He is the author of “Whose America?: Culture Wars in the Public Schools,” which was recently released in a revised 20th-anniversary edition by the University of Chicago Press.