If you could ask President Donald Trump one question, what would it be?
DailyKos contributor SemDem notes that Trump is "obsessed with conspiracy theories," did not as President-elect mention the Sandy Hook terrorist attack on its fourth anniversary, and dismissed the open letter of the daughter of a Sandy Hook victim in which the President-elect was asked to denounce the rampage and false-flag conspiratorialist Alex Jones. SemDem would ask "Do you believe the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax?"
That's a very good effort at an event past, but there should be also be one pertaining to a possible future event. Blue Nation Review's Melissa McEwan explains
Trump overtly talks and talks and talks about himself – and when he talks about other people, he’s still talking about himself. It’s just that he’s projecting his own flaws and failures onto them.
When he calls Hillary a “bigot,” he is really talking about himself. When he says that Hillary gives speeches that are devoid of policy, he is really talking about himself. When he accuses her of asserting that she has claimed to be able to solve systemic injustice, he is projecting onto her the claims he’s made.
From the man whose modus operandi is frightening people and primary goal to accumulate as much profit as possible leveraging his public office, there was this classic tweet in August: "Just watched recap of #CrookedHillary's speech. Very short and lies. She is the one fear-mongering!"
So consider that the President accused Barack Obama of ordering a wiretap on Trump Tower when on March 4 he tweeted "Terrible! Just found out that Obama had my "wires tapped" in Trump Tower just before the victory. Nothing found. This is McCarthyism!"; "Is it legal for a sitting President to be "wire tapping" a race for president prior to an election? Turned down by court earlier. A NEW LOW!"; "I'd bet a good lawyer could make a great case out of the fact that President Obama was tapping my phones in October, just prior to Election!"; "How low has President Obama gone to tapp my phones during the very sacred election process. This is Nixon/Watergate. Bad (or sick) guy!"
The following Monday, March 6, 2017, Chris Matthews charged Trump with failing to consider "the fact that evidence might be relevant when you're accusing an American President of a felony- a felony." Shepard Smith, the most reasonable voice Fox News anchorperson, questioned whether the President had "tweeted it out — accused the former president of felonious activity, accused him of a crime with zero evidence." Even a lawyer, whom one could expect would carefully choose his words, wrote that Mr. Obama has "been described as 'livid' over the accusation that he committed a felony."
But President Trump did not use the word "felony" and should not be accused of claiming the former President committed a "felony." Rather, Trump alleged that Obama had done something which most experts would consider a felony.
The distinction is not mere semantics. After Trump was asked in a New York Times interview on November 22, 2016 about his business conflicts, Maggie Haberman tweeted that Trump responded "the law's totally on my side, the president-elect can't have a conflict of interest."
Trump's response neatly combines his corrupt intentions, ignorance about the law, and arrogance toward his prerogatives as president. He may not be aware that the sort of action of which he accuses Barack Obama probably would constitute felonius behavior. If he is, it is unlikely that he would find it beyond his purview.
Trump may have had no contact with Russians, believes his contact(s) was insignificant, or has convinced himself that the significant contact was immaterial. In any of those cases, it could be expected that he would regard any intrusion on his privacy as an outrage. That does not mean that he would onsider it illegal or even improper if he himself would order without cause a tap of a citizen.
He might need to convince himself that his action was necessitated for national security or public safety. Or he may simply believe that when he does anything "the law's totally on my side."Either way, President Trump should be asked "Do you believe you would as a President ever be justified in ordering the wiretapping of an American citizen?"
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