Even Trump overestimated the intelligence of the American voter.
Following this logic of this article, one could predict that Trump is waiting for the Mueller investigation to reveal what he will be charged with and then resign the presidency in time for Pence to pardon him. He has a window before the Republicans are voted out of the presidency thus losing the opportunity for him to be pardoned. For this to work Trump has to resign the presidency so he can be charged as a private citizen and still have time for Pence as president to pardon him.
Those of us who would like to see Trump get what he deserves are going to be disappointed. But we should remember, getting the country and the world back on track are far more important than getting revenge or even justice.
The idealist in me hopes that Trump’s supporters learn the lessons that Hitler’s supporters learned with much less human sacrifice.