If I Had a Krauthammer

Last Thursday, "Fox News" commentator Charles Krauthammer chimed in about the investigations of the Trump team over Russia.  One particular statement leaped out --

"Collusion is unseemly but it ain't a crime," Krauthammer said to Fox News's Tucker Carlson. Adding that if Trump was "taken out" of office -- "I think that would be a catastrophic mistake."

I trust that Mr. Krauthammer has subsequently been informed that, while "collusion" indeed ain't illegal, its next door neighbor conspiracy actually is a crime. So, too, is money laundering.  And fraud is a crime, as well.  And tax evasion is a crime.  Also, obstruction of justice -- that's a crime, too.  As is securities violations.  And the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act.  And libel.  And human trafficking.  (Yes, even this is on the table, with reports that for now New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman may be looking into Trump's modeling agency.)

In fact, it's far worse than even this.  Mr. Krauthammer might be intrigued to know that according to Constitutional scholar Laurence Tribe, an impeachable offense doesn't not even have to be a crime!  Tribe notes "abuse of power." That can be, when an official act of malfeasance, though isn't inherently on its own.

So, given all of the charges that very clearly ​have been directed at Trump -- the aforementioned and others -- it's sort of adorable of Charles Krauthammer to focus on a single word that has no actual legal meaning in the court system and ignore the avalanche crashing down around him.  It's like chiding someone that they've incorrectly used the word "inflammable," since even though it begins with "in...", it actually means the same as "flammable" and "non-flammable" is the correct word, so there is no danger -- meanwhile a raging inferno is burning all around, homes are in flames, buildings ablaze, and a wildfire is violently spreading through the surrounding forest, wiping out everything in its path...

I have no idea if anything will be proven that Trump did anything illegal.  It certainly strikes me that it appears to be heading in that direction, but who knows?  But given all the range of actual criminal charges on the table, and the very real possibility that Trump himself is concerned about the danger facing him of being convicted of illegal actions, Mr. Krauthammer's definition of a "catastrophic mistake" is wildly different from mine.