Mmm, no. In my initial response I stipulated that the nature of the crime had to be considered (Franken's alleged sexual harrassemtn or assault) and whether there was a pattern of narcissistic, unscrupulous criminality.

Even so. Assume the Presidential candidate has a pattern of narcissistic, unscrupulous criminality. But in their policies, the general portfolio of their cabinet officials will be pretty much bog-standard for their party: that Departments like Labor, HUD, EPA, Commerce, DHS, Education will generally do the sorts of things a Republican Administration would do, and not do the sorts of things that a Democratic Administration would do. And that the lifetime appointments similarly reflect that switch. No matter how personally criminal someone might be, 90% of their administration is still going to end up being more or less what a Democratic Administration would look like - pushing forward Democratic goals and preventing GOP rollback of past accomplishments. And you trade that for the vice-versa - four years of a Republican Administration pushing forward Republican goals trying to roll back everything that the Democrats have done.

The effects of that four years - the flip from a potential Democratic Administration to a Republican one - are enormous, and many/most of them don't just "disappear" when the government reverts back.