If Trump Is Too Ignorant to Be Guilty, Hes Too Ignorant to Be President

[babylonsister]

https://newrepublic.com/article/143184/trump-ignorant-guilty-hes-ignorant-president

If Trump Is Too Ignorant to Be Guilty, He’s Too Ignorant to Be President
The Republican response to James Comey's testimony is the weakest defense yet of the president, and as damning as any indictment.
By Jeet Heer
June 8, 2017


snip//


Trump’s stubbornness in defending Flynn indicates the real problem with the theory of Trump as the ignorant innocent. Someone who was only operating from a position of insufficient knowledge might make random mistakes, but Trump’s errors all point in one direction: a desire to clamp down on the Russia investigation with a particular focus on protecting Flynn. This obsession with Flynn makes it more plausible that Trump is operating from a position not of ignorance, but of culpability.

Let’s accept, for a moment, the contention that Trump’s mind doesn’t grasp how government works. Isn’t that a good argument for removing him from office? You can’t be impeached for ignorance, but Republican leaders, if they really thought Trump was lacking in the basic knowledge necessary for the job, could approach him to encourage a resignation. Or they could pass laws to limit his powers. Or they could support an opponent to primary him. It’s unlikely that Republicans will do any of these things because the idea of Trump as an airhead innocent is just a political tool for them, not cause for constitutional alarm.

[louis-t]

1. All they need him to do is sign stuff.

And not completely destroy their party. Leave enough un-scorched so they can continue to sell off the government, remove all regulation, stop people from voting and hack voting machines.

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R

[Gothmog]

3. The ignorance of the law defense is dumb

[cilla4progress]

4. Ignorance of the law

is no defense.