We’ll see. One thing, however, should be quite clear: it is very unlikely that the living conditions of U.S. citizens will improve significantly, even if the status quo is maintained. The system has already been infiltrated far too deeply for that to happen. The US will therefore remain an oligarchy one way or another - living conditions will continue to deteriorate until US citizens dismantle the system, which I consider virtually impossible. The only question, then, is whether the democracy charade will continue or not, because there is truly no democracy in the U.S. where the system serves the people. The current administration merely makes this clearer than its predecessors.

Because in this case he is specifically calling by the books jury trials "weaponization" and "lawfare." It's way beyond simple corruption, which he can do just fine with his various crypto and real estate scams, and the language is being chosen intentionally.

The pardon power is a constitutional one, but to disparage the entire criminal justice system like this is ripping the blindfold off Lady Justice in a plainly partisan and autocratic way. It's priming people for conditions which will ultimately undermine the process in both directions - letting him protect his allies and justify erosion of due process as somehow flawed or optional. He's already doing it with his deportation framework, in which people who have never been charged with any crime are being labeled "criminals" and denied due process.