I’m sorry I can’t remember the exact names and such, but I remember reading a passage from Mencius where Mencius was asked if it was allowable to execute a ruler. Mencius asked for the specific ruler and upon hearing the name said something like, ‘I have heard that X was a scoundrel and a villain; a scoundrel and a villain is a criminal and he was executed; no king was executed.’ This later was called the rectification of names: if you are a ruler you must behave as a [Confucian—i.e. benevolent] ruler; if you don’t, you lose the right to be called a ruler and your fate is up for grabs.

I don’t think Trump should be executed, of course, but I think this is more in line with how we should treat crooked Presidents than some Office of Legal Counsel memo, especially after out of office. He’s given too much deference even now.