President Schultz

Led by a modern day Sgt. Schultz (“I know nothing!”) liberals within the administration need no direct instructions on rewarding supporters and punishing opponents.

In WWII, Adm. “Bull” Halsey, angered by the attack on Pearl Harbor, said, “Kill Japs, Kill Japs, then kill more Japs”

With that leadership, subordinates did not need instruction on what to do or how to do it, and felt no need to inform higher command when they did follow instructions.

So the president can deny that he knew what his subordinates were doing — it is called “plausible deniability” and it works, unless the president is stupid enough to wiretap himself, or write things down. He isn’t.

All of the activity to find and charge those who leak information — and it is much stronger than in past administration, should remember that only a “Deep Throat” blew the whistle on the Nixon administration. I suspect that all of this activity to discover and punish those who leak is designed to intimidate any who might be the administration’s “John Dean” from admitting that which we suspect.

This is not Watergate because this administration learned not to tape themselves, and to intimidate whistleblowers, but in truth, a president who says things like “revenge” and: ““If Latinos sit out the election instead of saying, ‘We’re gonna punish our enemies and we’re gonna reward our friends who stand with us on issues that are important to us,’ if they don’t see that kind of upsurge in voting in this election, then I think it’s gonna be harder and that’s why I think it’s so important that people focus on voting on November 2.”

When, then, subordinates interpret those comments unwisely or over the top, and the stuff hits the fan, the president can simply go play a round of golf and say “I know nothing.”

Given the choice of venality or incompetence, he will pick incompetence. It won’t hurt him a bit – won’t deduct a single dime from his post-presidency speaking honorarium.