valencing:

It reinforces the idea that he is a king and not an executive bound by the rule of law. We are meant to understand that his natural masculine brutality may be tempered by the soft, merciful instincts of his women but not by public pressure or coequal branches of government or legal argument or normal moral standards. This is also why he loves the pardon power – it is a remnant of the traditional prerogative of English kings and can be exercised independently of the machinery of democratic governance. He wants everything that has happened to be perceived as an exciting emotional story of twists and turns with himself as hero, a story which takes place outside the institutional structures that would normally constrain presidential behavior. In this case he is obviously retreating to some extent, although the practical consequences of this afternoon’s EO are unclear. However, staging that retreat as a gracious personal gesture toward a woman pleading for mercy displaces his personal defeat onto her–-she is the one who is weak, not him. Thus he consolidates his masculinity while reminding us that his power allows him to save or destroy lives on a whim.