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In Trump world, the rules apply only to other people.
That is how it has always been.
Hunter kicks a drug habit? Better lock him up, and dad while you are at it. Eric (or was it jr) snorts coke off his hand on camera? Crickets.
Trump says he wants to date his daughter? How sweet. Hunter owns a laptop? Pedo
Stunning? It's been blatantly obvious since forever.
"Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition …There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”
It only exposes for those who have no idea what conservatives stand for. This is standard behavior for them.
It doesn't "expose" anything really, since that implies that it was formerly hidden and it very much wasn't. Trump and his co-conspirators and mercenaries have been very clear that their position is that the rules only apply to other people literally since day one.
Legal concepts are only relevant if they're enforced - if they're not, then they're just meaningless mouth noises that might as well not exist at all. So the real problem isn't that Trump et al consider themselves above the law, but that damned near NOBODY in the entire fucking government is doing one single thing to disabuse them of that notion.
If any of this is surprising to you, then you haven't paid much attention.
No one is surprised at this point. The only variation is the level of acceptance. There's a large percentage that is totally okay with this, and another large percentage that is "what can be done?" apathetic. That's why it continues and grows.
They couldn't care less about being called hypocrites. In fact, they weaponize it to guilt others into following rules they don't care about.
Mr. Trump and the mostly men he has appointed to office often behave as if rules did not apply to them. That has been part of his appeal.
They see it like a war. Even when your soldiers do something wrong, you're not going to hope that the Germans win the battle because of it. You will, however, take every advantage if they make the same mistake.
the Trump team’s story is that no wrongdoing occurred
The point of the lies isn't to convince anyone - supporters know or at least suspect that their leader is lying and they approve. The point is to cripple rules-based opposition, which constantly has to disprove the official story before it can do anything.
How do you disprove a story when your opponents are themselves lying about believing it? They already know it's not true. Meanwhile, that story changes faster than you can respond. So what if this was illegal? It won't even be in the news in a week, forgotten because of some new outrage.
The hypocrisy being "stunning," you say.
Conservatives are bad people. This is well known. Outgroups to bind, in groups to protect.
There's a bit of nuance tho...
Technically the executive branch is the sole authority over classification. Ipso facto, the president can unilaterally decide if something is classified or not.
Historically, declassification is something that's not handled lightly. It needs to be thoroughly analyzed, and generally speaking the president likely doesn't know enough detailed context as to what may be okay or not.
The president using this power to save face...let alone to get out of trouble...is historically unique. And absolutely fucking moronic. Not to mention critically short-sighted.
Please raise your hand if you did not know this of Trump and his clown show from the beginning?
Those who raised your hands, I have an awesome bridge to sell you