It’s a pattern where men of wealth and power create a zone of impunity that protects them while destroying vulnerable people like Virginia Guiffrey.

This is where the story moves from sleaze to a massive crisis for American democracy itself.

When a president insists that scrutiny of his possible crimes is illegitimate, he’s not defending his innocence: he’s attacking a foundational principle of the American republic. As John Adams proclaimed:

“We are a government of laws, not of men.”

If only that were true today. If only more than a tiny handful of Republicans believed in that principle.