Our criminal president

Trump says he may not alert the FBI if foreign governments offered damaging information against his 2020 rivals during the upcoming presidential race. This is illegal in three ways. First, he is required to report to the FBI contact from any foreign agent who is trying to obstruct or damage the system of our government. It’s the law. Second, the information was probably obtained either through computer hacking or stealing documents. So Trump would be receiving stolen goods. A crime. Third, Trump would be violating his sworn oath of office to “… preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Violating federal law that directly benefits him while being chief executive officer is not in Trump’s job description. Engaging in war activities or fending off immigrants at the border to protect our Americanness could be construed as protecting and defending the United States. Kind of patriotic, but that’s not what the oath says. It says preserve, protect and defend the Constitution, which is the structure and process of our government. The president is supposed to be working within the Constitutional system as delineated, not actively working to circumvent it. Trump is like a drug addict acting out in inappropriate ways. His amped up attacks on the Constitution are really a plea for help. He’s so mired in his illegality he can’t find a way out, so he just goes deeper. The United States exists because we have a system that works. When that system is violated, eventually there is no system.

John. Koehn

Spokane