Trump’s idea of executive power is also impeachment defense

Donald Trump has always been a man of absolutes.

Something is the best or the worst, a person is a winner or a total loser, an event has never happened before, even when it has.

Absolutism was the unwritten credo of his career in business and is the guiding light of his presidency as he makes an assertion rarely heard from an American president: that he can do as he pleases.

Now that approach faces its ultimate test as a foundation of Trump’s defense in his impeachment trial, namely that he is cloaked with unrestrained authority. How that question is answered, both by the Senate in the impeachment trial and by voters in November, will define how Americans view the concept of presidential power.