In 2009, Army Ranger Michael Behenna was convicted of unpremeditated murder by a military court. Behenna was ordered to transport prisoner Ali Mansur back to his village but, instead, he drove Mansur to a secluded location, stripped him naked for an unauthorized interrogation, and then shot him to death.

Behenna claimed he acted in self-defense but according to court documents he told fellow soldiers "he would do it again, and he did not feel bad about it because he just lost two guys." And, on Monday, Donald Trump pardoned him. Behenna's 25 year sentence had already been reduced to 15 years, and, in 2014, he was released on parole. In a statement, Sarah Huckabee Sanders called Behenna "entirely deserving of this Grant of Executive Clemency." The director of the American Civil Liberties Union's National Security Project called the pardon "a presidential endorsement of a murder that violated the military’s own code of justice. Trump, as Commander-in-Chief, and top military leaders should prevent war crimes, not endorse or excuse them."

During his time in office, Trump's selection for presidential pardons has been explicitly political. This includes Dinesh D'Souza, the hyper-partisan conservative activist who was convicted after he knowingly made illegal campaign contributions in 2012. Then there's the Hammonds, ranchers whose arson conviction inspired the month-long, armed occupation of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge. And Trump's first pardon as president is probably the most egregious, granting clemency to former sheriff Joe Arpaio after he defied a federal judges orders. Arpaio openly bragged about forcing suspected undocumented immigrants into open-air "concentration camps" and the conditions in his jails were so abhorrent that a staggering number of prisoners killed themselves there. There's a good chance Trump selected D'Souza and Arpaio himself since they're both very vocal cheerleaders of his.

During his campaign, Trump sold himself as the "law and order" candidate, but Trump, as the New York Times report on his taxes demonstrated, has never been quite fond of following it himself. From his pardons alone, it's clear that no matter what the crime, Trump doesn't think that laws should apply to anyone he considers an ally.