It would be a good thing for Donald Trump to be investigated for all the crimes he committed, including his caught-on-tape demand that public officials overturn Georgia’s election — a situation that seems like a straightforward prosecution in a nation of laws. America, though, is not that nation — rhetoric to the contrary, we are not a society that values “law and order.” We are immersed in a culture of impunity — more specifically, impunity for the powerful to do whatever they want without consequences.

This culture is so ubiquitous that it can be difficult to even recognize at this point. It’s like that David Foster Wallace story about fish asking, “what the hell is water?” — but unlike water, impunity isn’t natural. It is anomalous and artificial, a construct that elites have manufactured and that is particularly pronounced in the political arena.

There, prominent voices have continued to suggest that Trump should be granted immunity in the name of Moving Forward Not Backward.