1. Trump openly admits to criminal conduct (urging or coercing foreign countries to investigate his political opponents) because he believes that will confuse people into thinking that perhaps his behavior isn’t as criminal as it appears to be.
2. People ask, ‘who would openly say and do such things if those things were truly criminal?’ I’ve seen a very similar tactic used by defendants when I was a prosecutor. A defendant who is charged with committing a murder on 4th Street at a certain date and time ...
3. would defend against the charge by saying, “It wasn’t me because I was selling crack cocaine on 10th Street at the time of the murder.” This is but one example of a person trying to use an open admission (albeit, in this hypo, a false admission) to committing crime to ...
4. accomplish a larger tactical goal (in this hypo, getting away with murder). Trump is saying the criminal/impeachable things out loud hoping that we’ll be fooled into thinking his behavior isn’t really as reprehensible, as criminal or as impeachable as it is. We are not fooled.
