In Donald Trump’s Senate impeachment trial over the 2020 election insurrection, his attorneys argued it was more a matter for the judicial system because he’s “like any other citizen and can be tried in a court of law.”

Senate GOP leader Mitch McConnell also cited possible criminal culpability after Republicans blocked the former president’s impeachment, saying, “He hasn’t gotten away with anything yet.”

Well, now he has.

Last week’s alarming Supreme Court decision granting near-absolute presidential immunity for official acts virtually assures the fizzling of criminal charges to adjudicate Trump’s responsibility for the Jan. 6, 2021, riot and other schemes to overturn Joe Biden’s election.

And it opens the door to legalized White House corruption never imagined in our country if Trump, who takes pride in being unshackled by ethics, wins back the job.

Even Trump supporters celebrating now will have a different view when the ruling allows a future president from the other party to get away with heinous misdeeds. The rule of law protects us all.

I agree the bar should be high for prosecuting former presidents and was OK with President Gerald Ford’s pardon of Richard Nixon to avoid endless discord.

I wouldn’t have prosecuted Trump for taking classified documents from the White House, even though it was clearly illegal. Once the documents were retrieved and it was determined his careless handling and obstruction didn’t materially damage national security, further drama was unnecessary.

But Trump needs to officially answer for the widespread criminal attack on a bedrock of our democracy: the peaceful transfer of power established when George Washington declined to be king for life in favor of a term as president he passed forward in an orderly manner.

With Congress deferring to the courts and the high court disclaiming power to act, both the federal and Georgia election interference cases against Trump are likely dead and our worst fears of an imperial presidency are realized.

The Supreme Court, with half its majority appointed by Trump, essentially green-lighted his announced plan for second-term retribution in which he prosecutes his enemies and pardons criminal allies.

A graft-minded president could sell pardons, Cabinet appointments, judgeships, executive orders, regulatory rules, vetoes, foreign aid and all other manner of official acts.

A president could abet our foreign adversaries and back-stab allies in exchange for financial and political favors.

Dissenting Justice Sonia Sotomayor warned that a president could even have rivals assassinated or organize a military coup to retain power.

This court-sanctioned kleptocracy could bleed over to governors and mayors; another decision involving a Midwestern mayor held that accepting a reward after an official act didn’t constitute bribery.

Federal law enforcement has been key to fighting corruption in Hawaii. Nationally, former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was convicted for selling Barack Obama’s Senate seat after he was elected president.

The Democrat could have served 14 years in prison if his sentence hadn’t been commuted by … Donald Trump.

I’ll be accused of fear-mongering, and a decade ago I would have agreed this couldn’t happen in America.

But in our new reality, no reasonably open-minded person could deny these dark scenarios are plausible, maybe even probable.

Reach David Shapiro at volcanicash@gmail.com.