Trump, Legal Genius, Thinks Flipping “Ought to Be Illegal”

Even by Trump’s standards, this is remarkable: In an interview with Fox News, Trump expressed the opinion that the act of “flipping,” by which he means cooperating with investigations to reduce jail sentences—a key component of how our justice system works—shouldn’t be allowed. Or “almost” shouldn’t be allowed. Watch:

Trump: I know all about flipping. It should almost be illegal. pic.twitter.com/jCZhwN7XxP

— Josh Marshall (@joshtpm) August 23, 2018

The money quote:

“It’s called flipping and it almost ought to be illegal. I know all about flipping, 30, 40 years I have been watching flippers. Everything is wonderful and then they get 10 years in jail and they flip on whoever the next highest one is or as high as you can go.”

It’s an interesting moral code to have, and the closest comparison is “mob boss.” Trump justifies the belief by arguing that someone can just “make something up” as a way to reduce a sentence, when in fact this is not the case—nobody gets time off for telling stories they can’t prove, including Michael Cohen, Trump’s longtime fixer and the man who inspired this rant. His actual belief, of course is that loyalty even in criminal enterprises should be prioritized over the current rules of the judicial system. And when I say “prioritized,” I mean codified in law.

It’s an absurd position, and thank God things don’t operate that way, since the concept of “flipping” is a key component to taking down vast criminal enterprises. But the fact that Trump hates it so much is as good an indication as any that he comes down on the side of autocratic corruption over law and order.