During the question-and-answer session Wednesday in the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump, his attorney Alan Dershowitz made an incredible declaration that the president supposedly has the power to do whatever he can to get reelected — deeming the national interest and his own political survival to be one and the same.

But some major news outlets are not treating this ridiculous argument — and its justification of using government power to suppress political opposition — as a serious threat to democracy and the rule of law, and a further part of Trump’s own pretensions of dictatorial power.

“Every public official that I know believes that his election is in the public interest. And mostly, you're right — your election is in the public interest,” Dershowitz said. “And if a president does something which he believes will help him get elected, in the public interest, that cannot be the kind of quid pro quo that results in impeachment.”