President Donald Trump may not understand what’s wrong with paying two women he allegedly had affairs with because “his brain sees only private interests transacting. It doesn’t comprehend the public interest,” former secretary of labor Robert Reich wrote in The Guardian on Monday.
Trump’s former lawyer, Michael Cohen, admitted last week to making payments to two women who claimed to have had affairs with Trump in order to buy their silence during the 2016 presidential election. Reich notes that Cohen told ABC that Trump “of course” knew that the payments were wrong and were intended to help his campaign.
Trump “was very concerned about how this would affect the election,” Cohen said.
“But even if Trump intended that the payments aid his presidential bid, it doesn’t necessarily follow that he knew they were wrong,” Reich wrote.
“Trump might have reasoned that a deal is a deal: the women got hundreds of thousands of dollars in return for agreeing not to talk about his affairs with them. So where’s the harm?”
Reich notes that the same argument can apply to Trump’s dealing with Saudi Arabia and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, Russian President Vladimir Putin, and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. It could also explain Trump’s reaction to accusations of collusion with Russia to win the 2016 election.
“Collusion means joining together in violation of the public interest. If Trump’s brain comprehends only private interests, even a transaction in which Putin offered explicit help winning the election in return for Trump weakening Nato and giving Russia unfettered license in Ukraine wouldn’t be collusive.
“When private deals are everything, the law is irrelevant. This also seems to fit with Trump’s worldview.”
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