In Trumps world, innocence is proved by guilt
By Michael Gerson
July 13 at 7:38 PM
... the most shocking thing is that no one on the Trump side was shocked. The most offensive thing is that no one took offense ... "I think many people would have held that meeting," the president affirmed. It is the banality of this corruption that makes it so appalling. The president and his men are incapable of feeling shame about shameful things.
... disclosure is not really a virtue if you are admitting highly unethical actions without apology. It is more like the public confession of serious wrongdoing, and the attempted normalization of sliminess.
... President Trump himself ... is fully responsible for creating and marketing an ethos in which victory matters more than character ... Trumpism is an easygoing belief system that indulges and excuses the stiffing of contractors, the conning of students, the bilking of investors, the exploitation of women and the practices of nepotism and self-dealing ...
... Their innocence, the argument goes, is proved by their guilt. This might apply to minor infractions of campaign finance law. It does not cover egregious acts of wrongdoing. Putting a future president in the debt of a foreign power — and subject, presumably, to blackmail by that power — is the height of sleazy stupidity. It is not a mistake born of greenness; it is evidence of a vacant conscience ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/in-trumps-world-innocence-is-proved-by-guilt/2017/07/13/07e69a82-67ea-11e7-8eb5-cbccc2e7bfbf_story.html?utm_term=.21b96a6e127e
