Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) is such an ardent supporter of President Trump that in an appearance on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle he called on Trump to “wield the presidential pardon effectively and robustly”— even to the point of pardoning himself, The Hill reports.

Gaetz, a member of the House Judiciary Committee told anchor Tammy Bruce that “President Trump should pardon Michael Flynn. He should pardon the Thanksgiving Turkey. He should pardon everyone from himself to his administration officials to Joe Exotic if he has to.”

But that’s not all he had to say.

“You see from the radical left a bloodlust that will only be quenched if they come after the people who worked so hard to animate the Trump administration with the policies and the vigor and the effectiveness that delivered for the American people.”

This left me to wonder what exactly the Trump administration has “delivered” for the American people, other than more than 267,000 deaths from the coronavirus pandemic, a trashed unemployment rate, and a country roiled by racism with unparalleled numbers of hate groups springing up, but that’s me.

While Gaetz is arguably not the brightest bulb in the building, there’s one thing he gets wrong here: According to The Atlantic and Refinery 29, it’s very unlikely Trump will be able to pardon himself, thanks to the Constitution, which covers such things. Both outlets offer lengthy explanations as to why Trump can’t do this, and if you’re curious about this I’d suggest you give them a read. My space here is pretty limited and I can’t really get into it without writing an encyclopedia. I am, however, going to quote Sarah Midkiff, who wrote the story for Refinery 29.

She describes the practice of looking for a term’s original public meaning, something that was commonly used by the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia and is used by other conservatives today.

“This would involve looking at how everyday English speakers in the late 1700s would have understood the word should they have read it in a legal document,” Midkiff writes.

To find the answer, she refers to a popular legal dictionary that was written at the end of the 18th century, which I’m citing here, without the ginormous title, owing to space. In this dictionary, in reference to the Constitution, she notes it all comes down to one word, “grant:”

“In it, the word ‘grant’ has the singular definition of meaning ‘a deed which passes or conveys land from one man to another.’ (Zoom in on ‘to another.’) Nowhere in that dictionary does it say that a person could grant something to themselves. Furthermore, the idea of a reflexive use of the term reportedly didn’t exist in popular language at the time.”

In her conclusion, Midkiff notes:

“So based on context clues from the original document, legal dictionaries in use at the time, and the development of the English language in the last few centuries, the seemingly inconsequential word ‘grant’ might have just kept us away from an even more complicated end to Trump’s presidency.”

I’m certain that would be much to Gaetz’s chagrin if he were able to understand such things. I’m including his nonsensical comments in the clip below.

President Trump should pardon Flynn, the Thanksgiving turkey, and everyone from himself, to his admin, to Joe Exotic if he has to.

The Left has a bloodlust that will only be quenched if they come for those who fought with @realDonaldTrump to deliver for the American people. pic.twitter.com/wdTfu3Xwmp

— Rep. Matt Gaetz (@RepMattGaetz) November 25, 2020