“Look at the circumstantial evidence surrounding this,” former independent counsel Kenneth Starr said in a recent interview. “[Did Trump say] Bring him in, bring him in here, and I want to talk to him privately?”

No. Instead, Starr explained, Trump chose a phone call, rather than a one-on-one meeting, to make his points with Zelensky. Remember when the president was accused of being secretive in a one-on-one conversation with Vladimir Putin with no one other than translators within earshot? This wasn’t that…

Some of Trump’s most determined adversaries say his “read the transcript” mantra is the work of a sociopath, of someone who is incapable of knowing right from wrong, or perhaps it is an in-your-face defense strategy that comes naturally to a man who almost never admits a mistake.

But the simplest explanation is that Trump really doesn’t believe he did anything wrong.