When the king is a liar, truth becomes treason.

Not my line, but it certainly resonates in the wake of Donald Trump’s assertion that he regards himself as above all laws. Didn’t this country fight a war with Great Britain to remove itself from a monarchy that believed itself above all laws? Well yes, but that was a long time ago, right?

This is, after all, a president who has fired his FBI director in an effort to halt an investigation of his possible links to Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election. This is the president who has made clear he detests his Justice Department director because he refused to stop the investigation. This is a president who has committed all sorts of lies in an hapless effort to divert attention from that investigation, and who most recently says he could even garden himself if he were to be convicted as a result of the investigation.

This is a president who words and behaviors bear no relation to truth or honesty and whose administration seems committed only to enriching itself while wreaking havoc on American democracy. Trump remains a malcompetent person — a bumbling, inarticulate shadow of a leader — whose danger to the health of the country he heads cannot be overstated.

His words that he is above all laws and can pardon himself from any crimes show exactly who he is: a tyrant in the making and a man whose removal from office is not merely a remedy but a requirement for all of us concerned about the country we love, a country whose greatness is under assault.