The ignorance defense

“Collusion is not a crime, but that doesn’t matter because there was No Collusion (except by Crooked Hillary and the Democrats)!” – Trump tweet 7-31-18

Col·lu·sion- secret or illegal cooperation or conspiracy, especially in order to cheat or deceive others.

I saw this one coming from 10,000 miles away. From the very beginning of his “reign” people within his administration, and those in his circle of “powerful friends” have all defended The Donald the same way, he is a newbie to this Presidential thing. We can’t expect him to know how political stuff works, stuff like the Bill of Rights or the Constitution. He is a businessman not a politician. We need to cut him some slack, give him a little leeway.

What we are being set-up for is the ignorance defense, “I didn’t know I was doing anything wrong. I was only trying to Make America Great Again!”

I had a business partner that for years operated under the mantra that “It is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.” He knowingly did shit that he knew was wrong but he put the burden on the other party to call him out on it. 9 out of 10 people prefer to avoid a confrontation, which is what he was banking on, and simply blow it off and move on. But there is always that one guy, someone who lives for a clash. The one guy you should have asked for permission from and that is the guy who will drag you into court and make your life both miserable and expensive.

Big Don doesn’t ask for permission and sadly he also doesn’t ask for forgiveness. He has spent his entire adult life buying his way out of trouble which is why he had an attorney like Michael Cohen on his payroll.

Over the course of the last few weeks both Trump and his attorney Rudy Giuliani have gone from stroking and praising Cohen to vilifying him. Giuliani has even taken it a step further calling Cohen a scumbag, a traitor and a really bad guy. What does that tell you? Well it tells me that both Don and Rudy are scared shitless about what Cohen can deliver to the special counsel Robert Mueller and though they act like they aren’t concerned rest assured they are.

As I have written before, what is going to take Donald Trump down is Donald Trump. The consequences of his actions and his words will be his demise. When you live your life outside of the margins of compassion, empathy, and honesty. When you define your morals as whatever pleases you, whatever brings you satisfaction and pleasure rather than what is in the best interest of everyone else, the greater good, you crumble and all the wealth and fame in the world can’t and won’t save you.

Trump thinks he is “too big to fail”. A refrain we heard about corporations during the 2008 financial crisis. But what Trump forgets, what Trump ignores is that he is just a man, flesh and bones. There is nothing particularly special about him. His $5,000 suits don’t give him super powers. He is required to be held to same legal standards the rest of us are. And here is the thing that will ultimately bite him in the ass, because he has the title of President in front of his name there is the expectation that he should be held to an even higher standard than the rest of us. I am sure Robert Mueller believes that just as I do.