Even if the payment had been totally legal, it would’ve constituted a deliberate, immoral, classically politician-like effort to mislead voters about the choice before them. But the payment was not legal. It violated campaign-finance laws—and it was not a merely accidental and technical violation of an overly complicated or controversial provision. The most defensible campaign-finance laws are rooted in the widely agreed upon proposition that the major expenditures of federal campaigns should be visible to voters as they decide whom to support. With his willful machinations to conceal the truth about a six-figure outlay, Cohen robbed voters of relevant information they were owed…
Whatever legal and political consequences ensue, Trump voters should know that they cast their ballot for a man who has lied to them all along, even about a felony that would help him win the 2016 election. A nickname that pithily distilled his behavior would be “Crooked Donald.” America cannot be great again so long as he corrupts its presidency, poisons its discourse with lies, shows disregard for the authority of its laws, and sets an example of mendacious debasement for its children.
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