Rule of law? Anymore? No president has ever been punished in any meaningful capacity in our entire history. Washington used loopholes to avoid setting his slaves free[1] for christ sake.
What about Nixon’s impeachment and resignation? What about Trump being a convicted felon 5 ways to Sunday (yes they overturned this since he won again, but I doubt it would have gone this direction if he’d lost.)
1. There is no downside to impeachment. It has the same impact as a strongly worded letter.
2. Nixon decided to resign and not the alternative for doing something so insane: A restoration of damages.
3. Like I said, they were overturned. I mean even the NYT was trying to figure out the result: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/23/nyregion/trump-trial-hush...
The reality is the system will bend itself to avoid the problem, because it's been designed to avoid that problem.
[1]: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/george-washington-...