Jack Goldsmith on Trump's incomprehension of his own office:
The real problem isn't Trump, though. The real problem is that Trump's supporters don't know or don't care about this. Thus, John Cornyn could walk out of the Comey hearing and say this:
What we're seeing here isn't smoke. It's fire. I wonder how much higher the flames will get before Trump's enablers admit there's smoke.
Trump does not remotely understand his role, status, and duties as President and Chief Executive, and this failure infects or undermines just about everything he does. It is an amazing state of affairs: A President of the United States who does not at all grasp the Office he occupies, and who thus entirely lacks the proper situation sense, or contextual knowledge, in which a President should exercise judgment or act. Let that sink in, and then imagine all of the decisions a President must make, all that he is responsible for. This reflection is the main reason why I have come to believe that the President does not deserve a presumption of regularity in his actions—not just by courts with respect to the immigration executive orders, but by the public more generally with respect to “everything the Executive does that touches, however lightly, the President.”
Obviously I agree with Goldsmith that Trump's vast (and IMO incurable) ignorance is disabling. He profoundly doesn't know what a president does and does not do. As a result (among other things) he has blithely obstructed justice.
The real problem isn't Trump, though. The real problem is that Trump's supporters don't know or don't care about this. Thus, John Cornyn could walk out of the Comey hearing and say this:
“I do not believe there is” any evidence that that president obstructed justice, Cornyn told reporters, referring to the questions Sen. Jim Risch (R-Idaho) asked Comey.
“You heard Senator Risch ask about the expression of hope,” Cornyn said. “That’s not an order.”
Reasonable people could disagree about whether known facts are sufficient to establish the commission of a crime, but Cornyn claims there's no evidence of obstruction. That's an astounding claim. Trump both pressured Comey to end the FBI's investigations, then urged others to exert similar pressure. After Comey failed to comply, Trump fired him, then (after lying about it) all but admitted that he'd done so over the investigations. Maybe that isn't sufficient to prove a crime beyond a reasonable doubt, but it's abundant evidence of obstruction.“You heard Senator Risch ask about the expression of hope,” Cornyn said. “That’s not an order.”
What we're seeing here isn't smoke. It's fire. I wonder how much higher the flames will get before Trump's enablers admit there's smoke.