Mike German, a former FBI undercover agent who spent years infiltrating white supremacist organizations, recounts lessons learned in his new book “Policing White Supremacy: The Enemy Within.” This past week, I spoke with German on the daily radio show I co-host, WHMP’s “Talk the Talk.”

On air, German expressed grave concerns over Trump’s pardoning of the insurrectionists. He fears that right-wing violent extremists expect and will get a free pass from law enforcement. The FBI won’t investigate and the DOJ won’t prosecute violent right-wing hate groups.

This week we also interviewed Aran Shetterly, whose new book is ”Morningside: The 1979 Greensboro Massacre and the Struggle for an American City’s Soul.” Sitterly’s expose tells the story of the Ku Klux Klan killing five anti-Klan protesters, wounding 10 others, and literally getting away with murder.

Mike Nathan, the husband of the late Northampton doctor Marty Nathan, was one of the five protesters shot and killed. Sitterly, in response to a similar question from us about Trump’s pardons, shared his fear that today, right-wing extremists are being emboldened to commit violence with impunity.

Also joining us this week was criminal defense attorney John Pucci, a former U.S. attorney in charge of the western Massachusetts office. Pucci explained how the newly announced FBI and Department of Justice DOJ focus on immigration cases and refighting the failed and racist war on drugs will leave no resources to investigate or prosecute right-wing hate crimes. Pucci’s was an enlightening and sobering assessment.

Despite our guests’ experience, wisdom and their consistent condemnation of the pardons, an effective antidote proved elusive. Perhaps for an obvious reason: The effects of the pardons will likely be widespread and enduring. As German writes, “The Proud Boys and other far-right militant groups have reconstituted their ranks; (they) continue to menace elected officials and the general public (and) to recruit members from the ranks of law enforcement.”

When Northwestern District Attorney David Sullivan joined us from a national DA’s conference in Washinton, D.C., my co-host, Buz Eisenberg, followed up, asking him whether the pardons could be squared with the administration’s claim to support first responders and law and order, Sullivan’s succinct answer: No.

Our radio guests did credit Trump for one transparency. He promised the pardons, and he followed through.

He also promised to inflict retribution on his perceived political opponents, and the retribution has begun.

Trump is conducting a purge at DOJ, forcing career prosecutors who were assigned to work on the Mar-a-Lago classified documents case and the Jan. 6 insurrection prosecutions to resign. Pam Bondi, the 2020 election-denying Trump loyalist and sycophant and newly installed attorney general, heads the DOJ.

Trump has also claimed the right to fire all federal employees and replace them with his political loyalists. The asserted right, this exercise of authoritarianism, stems from what’s called the Unitary Executive Theory.

That theory has its origins in the first sentence of Article II of the Constitution that says, “The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” The vesting clause, as it’s called, according to Trump, gives him never-before-asserted, unlimited authority over all aspects of government.

For Trump, this is how it works: A governmental entity not part of the judicial or legislative branches necessarily is part of the executive, and as president he rules the executive branch completely, without exception or equivocation. This power includes his personal jurisdiction over, for example, the Justice Department, the NLRB, the Federal Reserve, the Postal Service, the Social Security Administration, the Treasury Department, USAID — everything.

In Trump world, independent agencies cannot exist even when their independence is guaranteed by the congressional acts that created them. Independent agencies go back to the creation of the Interstate Commerce Commission in 1887.

Trump is deadly serious about all this. In less than three weeks he has dismantled USAID, fired inspectors general to ensure that his corruption goes unchecked, given Elon Musk access to everyone’s Social Security number, and unconstitutionally impounded funds appropriated by Congress.

Ultimately, the Supreme Court will decide the legality of Trump’s power grab. Maybe Chief Justice John Roberts will decline to put his imprimatur on American fascism. Maybe.

And maybe those decisions will matter. But maybe not. The existence of a judiciary doesn’t necessarily guarantee anything. Remember, courts functioned in Germany throughout the Third Reich. They were no match for Hitler.

Besides, Trump thinks he owns the Supreme Court. And he very well might. Recall the recent presidential criminal immunity decision.

In addition, the court’s support is not necessarily required. Trump could channel President Andrew Jackson who, responding to an 1834 Supreme Court ruling that the Cherokee nation owned a swath of Georgia, declared, “(Chief Justice John) Marshall “has made his decision. Now let him enforce it.” The Cherokees were brutally evicted.

At a party after Trump’s inauguration, Musk, the second most important man in government, gave a Nazi salute. Since then, dictators and white supremacists have celebrated him. In response to questions that followed, Musk deflected and made light. A heading in German’s book is “‘Just Joking’ and Other White Supremacist Denials.”

Bill Newman, a Northampton-based civil rights attorney and radio host, writes a monthly column.