Dear Mr. Trump:

You’re enthralled by the power to pardon. No one can stop you from pardoning anyone convicted, or who might yet be convicted, of a federal crime. You’ve used it to pardon people you like and people who support your anti-immigrant policies, regardless of what they’ve done. You’ve talked about pardoning people who felt, as you do, that they should turn their political power into personal or that they can cheat small investors with impunity.

So why not practice using those pardon powers a bit more before pardoning the people you really want to pardon, the people ready to testify how you colluded with the Russians?

Here are some ideas, Sir:

Pardon John Wilkes Booth: send another clear signal to your KKK and Tea Party friends and remind them of how great you feel America was under slavery.

Pardon Al Capone: another gangster.

Pardon Timothy McVeigh: he, too, tried to tear down the federal government.

Remember though, Sir, that no matter how many people you pardon for federal crimes, you can’t stop them from telling the whole story about you as they are prosecuted for state crimes.

Very truly yours,

Bruce J. Berger