The Wisdom of Ignorance

The favorite character in the Republican Senate caucus is Sergeant Hans Schultz- played by the late John Banner- famous for "I know nothing, nothing" or "I see nothing. I know nothing."

On December 3:

MSNBC: You just outlined the dangers posed by drugs. So what explanation do you have for Trump pardoning the former president of Honduras who was a convicted drug trafficker?

SEN. ROGER MARSHALL: I don't know the details of that pardon. Happy to look into it. I can't speak to… pic.twitter.com/oE1IVQca0m

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) December 3, 2025

Then on Sunday

On NBC, “Meet the Press” host Kristen Welker reminded Republican Sen. Tom Cotton of Arkansas that Trump pardoned a man “who trafficked more than 500 tons of cocaine into the United States.” She specifically asked, “How does that make America safer?”

The senator professed ignorance. “Well, I haven’t spoken to the president about that pardon,” Cotton replied, adding, “I’d have to know more about the circumstances.”

But that was nothing compared to the response of Senator Eric Schmitt of Missouri to George Stephanopoulos of ABC's This Week when he asked the Republican "Do you support this pardon of the former Honduran president?" Schmitt replied

I'm not familiar with the facts or circumstances, but I think what's telling here is to try to imply that somehow President Trump is soft on drug smuggling is just ridiculous. It's totally ridiculous. He's the -- he has provided border security like we've never seen before. And the fact is, these cartels now, because the southern border is closed, they've gone to the high seas.

So, President Trump is acting with his core Article II powers. No serious legal expert would doubt that the president has authority to blow narco terrorists out of the water, who are poisoning a hundred thousand Americans every year. If you watched the SEC Championship Game yesterday, the Big 10 Championship Game, combine those two stadiums with the number of people there, that's how many people are dying each every year from the poison that's coming from these narco terrorists.

So the fact is, George, President Trump has been delegated the authority by Congress to designate terrorist organizations. He has done that. He sent a letter to Congress saying he was going to initiate these strikes. We've had regular briefings about it, including from Secretary of State Rubio, including from other high-ranking officials in the Department of Defense. He's executing those.

Article II does not grant the President of the USA any such powers, and it's not a close call. Moreover, the authority granted by Congress to the President to designate terrorist organizations, Executive Order 13224 provides "a means by which to disrupt the financial support network for terrorists or terrorist organizations."  It has nothing to do with blowing boats out of the water or even executing terrorists. None.

Donald Trump has practically trademarked the Art of the Big Lie, and now his disciples have joined the game. So, too, have they emulated Donald who, if he is to be believed, knows nothing- nothing. In October, he

granted a pardon to Changpeng Zhao, the billionaire founder of a cryptocurrency exchange who had pleaded guilty to money-laundering violations in 2023, and whose company struck a business deal in May involving the Trump family’s crypto venture. But now the president has claimed he did not know who Mr. Zhao was.

Mr. Trump distanced himself from Mr. Zhao in an interview with “60 Minutes” broadcast on Sunday, during which he was questioned about the decision to pardon Mr. Zhao, who pleaded guilty in 2023 after being accused of money-laundering violations that allowed criminals to move money on his cryptocurrency exchange, Binance.

“I don’t know who he is,” Mr. Trump said. “I know he got a four-month sentence or something like that. And I heard it was a Biden witch hunt.”

The President didn't know who he is, though he knew that Zhao received a four-month prison sentence and "heard it was a Biden witch hunt."  Trump has made a habit of this, falsely claiming at one time or another not to have heard of one individual or another whom he did know. They include rapper Lil John, lawyer George Conway, former defense secretary Robert Gates, then-Senator Bob Casey, former campaign manager George Papadopoulos, then-acting Attorney General Matt Whitaker, Vladimir Putin. He met them, knew them, and even worked with some of them. But he didn't know them. And of course, "I don't really know why" Jeffrey Epstein was taking young women from Mar-a-Lago.

Nonetheless, I can't blame Democrats for ignoring the apparent ignorance of Republicans. If the public cared, it could have elected Kamala Harris over Trump in 2024; Hillary Clinton over Trump in 2016;  Al Gore over George W. Bush in 2000; and truth be told, John McCain over Barack Obama in 2008, Understanding of  such things as government, foreign policy, and the office itself hasn't been a priority of American voters in at least several decades.

Share |