Most people, perhaps even most sociopaths, have an internal alarm that goes off when they do something wrong. They may not feel an ounce of guilt, remorse or sorrow, but their instinct for survival is strong enough to send a red alert.

Not so with President Trump. The first question I had after reading the White House reconstruction of the July 25 phone call, in which he prods Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky to interfere with an American election, was: How could they release this?

“It turned out to be a nothing call,” Trump said. He also described it as “beautiful” and “perfect” and asked for an apology from his critics.

This was a “nothing call” only to a man with nothing for a moral foundation. This was exculpatory only to someone who thinks that the crime he has just outlined for all the world to see does not matter. This was “beautiful” and “perfect” only to someone who has crossed so many lines in his life that he has no idea where the boundaries are.