Good post, I merely recommend a change in verb voice.
Trump is impulsive and really not a very good checkers player. Now, for the first time, he's knocked well off balance. None of the usual dull-minded tricks have worked with his dull-minded but stubborn followers. Lying, deflecting, pronouncing the story dead, and railing against enemies of the state had been, literally, fool-proof.
How many of his actions are really considered other than hiring flunkies with his same non-existent moral code?
Trump's anxious and getting angrier. He ignores good advice because he knows more about anything than anybody. He is set up here for a disastrous decision.
Should Trump outrage his followers with the pardon of a teenage girl sex trafficker, there will be an opening for the only relevant political party to oust him. They'd rather be in control than have an outsider such as Trump pulling the reins of the hate engine they've hitched their criminal organization to. The GOPs are not all Trump loyalists. I would wager few of them are. They sell their souls; they don't dedicate them.
Oust Trump and you have someone less bombastic but equally wicked. Vance. He can't command as Trump does. The GOPs are back on track with their fascist plans. They've even been moved further down the line by President Shitty Pants Dumbass.
Trump shouldn't pardon Ghislaine "Lucky" Maxwell, but he surely can.