The Trump administration is in an unethical league of its own

they are serving in the least ethical administration in our history? The “our” is important, because there have been more crooked regimes — but only in banana republics. The corruption and malfeasance of the Trump administration is unprecedented in U.S. history. The only points of comparison are the Gilded Age scandals of the Grant administration, Teapot Dome under the Harding administration, and Watergate and the bribe-taking of Vice President Spiro Agnew during the Nixon administration.

..  tweet from President Trump: “Why is A.G. Jeff Sessions asking the Inspector General to investigate potentially massive FISA abuse. . . . Why not use Justice Department lawyers? DISGRACEFUL!” Translation: Trump is exercised that the Justice Department is following its normal procedures.

Sessions fired back: “As long as I am the Attorney General, I will continue to discharge my duties with integrity and honor.” Translation: The president is asking him to act without“integrity and honor.”

.. This is part of a long pattern of the president pressuring the “beleaguered” Sessions — a.k.a. “Mr. Magoo” — to misuse his authority to shut down the special counsel investigation of Trump and to launch investigations of Trump’s political foes. Because Sessions won’t do that, Trump has tried to force him from office. The president does not recognize that he is doing anything improper. He thinks the attorney general should be his private lawyer.

.. The poor man has no idea of what the “rule of law” even means

.. he said: “Take the guns first, go through due process second.” This from a supposed supporter of the Second Amendment.

This is a president, after all, whose

  1. communications director quit on Wednesday after admitting to lying (but insists her resignation was unrelated); whose
  2. senior staff included an alleged wife-beater; whose
  3. former national security adviser and deputy campaign manager have pleaded guilty to felonies; whose
  4. onetime campaign chairman faces 27 criminal charges, including conspiracy against the United States; whose
  5. attorney paid off a porn star; and whose
  6. son mixed family and government business on a trip to India.