Let me tell you about the time my college roommate tried to bribe our RA with concert tickets to avoid getting written up for our very illegal mini fridge. The absolute arrogance of giving the bribe while being actively investigated for... giving bribes. Which brings me to Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest stunt.

News broke today that Israel’s longest serving Prime Minister has formally asked President Isaac Herzog to pardon him for not one, not two, but THREE corruption cases still being litigated in court. I almost choked on my baba ganoush reading this. The man hasn’t even been convicted yet and he’s pulling the e brake on the justice system like it’s a broken shopping cart.

Now here’s where it gets extra delicious. Two weeks ago, Donald Trump very publicly urged Israel’s president to do the exact same thing in a slightly less formal “pretty please with a cherry on top” diplomatic letter. Coincidence? Please. This is synchronized swamp diving at its finest.

For those keeping score at home, Netanyahu got indicted back in 2019 on charges including bribery, fraud, and breach of trust. Prosecutors claim he gave regulatory favors to telecom and media billionaires in exchange for positive coverage and literal crates of champagne. Standard stuff for any good mob movie, but apparently business as usual in Jerusalem.

What’s genuinely wild here isn’t the brazenness. It’s the reasoning. Netanyahu claims his pardon would 'heal the divisions' in Israeli society torn apart by his judicial overhaul attempts last year and the ongoing mess in Gaza. That’s like demanding a Nobel Peace Prize for not punching strangers at a meditation retreat.

This moment is textbook Hidden Hypocrisy 101. Leaders elected to enforce laws deciding laws don’t apply to them. Remember in 2021 when Bill Clinton met secretly with Attorney General Loretta Lynch on an airport tarmac during the Hillary email investigation firestorm? That scandal practically invented the phrase 'looks sus.' Well this is that moment but turbocharged and lit on fire.

Here’s what keeps me up at night. When public servants act like Twitter trolls live streaming their jailbreak attempts, what happens to the rest of us glued to our phones watching? I traveled through Israel in 2018 during the early street protests against Netanyahu’s administration. The anger wasn’t just about corruption. It was about fearing democracy itself had become a participation trophy politicians could revoke whenever inconvenient.

Which leads me back to Trump. Whatever your politics, you have to admire his Houdini level escape artistry when it comes to legal accountability. He floated pardoning himself back in 2021 and here we are in 2025 watching other world leaders take detailed notes. Say what you will about Trump’s tactics, they expose hypocrisy across the entire political spectrum like an industrial strength X ray machine.

Netanyahu’s move today isn’t just about dodging lawsuits. It’s about the slow death of consequences. I grew up watching politicians resign over using government funds to buy haircuts or fancy pens. Now we have leaders treating indictments like parking tickets you can ignore if your poll numbers are juicy enough.

The real Human Impact? When voters start believing illegal behavior is just how the game works. My generation already struggles enough with political apathy without seeing leaders treat courts like suggestion boxes. I spoke to a cousin in Tel Aviv this morning who said young Israelis feel like they’re caught between rockets from Hamas and corruption from their own government. They just want leaders who show up without needing handcuffs.

The Category Fit here is so obvious it hurts. We’re watching decades of political norms unravel in real time, globally, while regular people scramble to pay rent. That Netanyahu and Trump keep mirroring each other’s strategies despite supposedly serving different constituencies tells you everything. The political playbook has been rewritten. The chapter on accountability got redacted.

Final thought. Maybe Netanyahu should take his case to reality TV instead of the courts. 'Dancing With the Scandals' has a nice ring to it. The cha cha cha of corruption paired with the samba of arrogance. Judges would hold up scorecards. Would it fix anything? No. But at least we’d get a laugh before collapse of Western legal systems becomes finale episode material.

What gives me hope? The same thing that always saves us when politics gets clownish. People remember power comes from ballots, not bailouts. If this pardon request proves anything, it’s that desperate politicians know their time is short while voter memories are long. Pass the hummus.