I’m beginning to think President Trump is playing a game of making Rod Rosenstein look bad. Every time the deputy attorney general opens his mouth, the President flamboyantly pulls the rug out from under him—in public. The latest round took place this week when Rosenstein inexplicably gave a speech praising President Trump’s commitment to the rule of law. As the estimable Josh Gerstein recounts in Politico:

In a speech to an audience of judges and attorneys in Washington, Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein said Trump’s nominations of distinguished lawyers to top Justice Department posts demonstrated his fidelity to “American values.” “When President Trump spoke last summer about American values, he said, and I quote, ‘We treasure the rule of law and protect the right to free speech and free expression,’” Rosenstein said, quoting a speech Trump gave in July in Warsaw. “The president’s words about the rule of law are backed by concrete action.” The No. 2 Justice Department official said Trump’s picks for attorney general, associate attorney general, solicitor general and FBI director underscored the president’s dedication to those longstanding principles. “When you appoint principled lawyers like Jeff Sessions, Rachel Brand, Noel Francisco and Chris Wray to leadership positions in the Department of Justice, that demonstrates respect for the rule of law,” Rosenstein argued.

There wasn’t much rug to pull out from under the deputy attorney general once he had said this transparently foolish thing. Jack Goldsmith says it all in this Twitter thread:

Just getting to DAG Rosenstein's claim that Trump's excellent DOJ appointments show that he believes in rule of law. https://t.co/Auv18nptbY — Jack Goldsmith (@jacklgoldsmith) November 2, 2017 Trump's DOJ appointments *have* mostly been excellent. Brand, Francisco, Wray, Engel, Demers are all high-quality appointments. — Jack Goldsmith (@jacklgoldsmith) November 2, 2017 And many great lawyer nominees in other Departments, eg Newstead at State. And many great judicial appointments too. — Jack Goldsmith (@jacklgoldsmith) November 2, 2017 But, who thinks Trump has anything concrete to do with this? Rosenstein provides no evidence that DT had any say in this. I doubt he did. — Jack Goldsmith (@jacklgoldsmith) November 2, 2017 Trump's attacks on judges, Mueller, DOJ, etc, & his utter disrespect for all legal process, belies idea that he cares about rule of law. — Jack Goldsmith (@jacklgoldsmith) November 2, 2017 I'm flabbergasted Rosenstein would make such a preposterous claim--that DT cares about rule of law--in light of all the contrary evidence. — Jack Goldsmith (@jacklgoldsmith) November 2, 2017

But whatever tattered shred of rug may have remained under Rosenstein’s feet, Trump quickly yanked it away when he gave a talk radio interview to WMAL in which he addressed his attitude towards the Justice Department and the FBI with this remarkable comment:

But you know, the saddest thing is, because I am the President of the United States, I am not supposed to be involved with the Justice Department. I’m not supposed to be involved with the FBI. I’m not supposed to be doing the kind of things I would love to be doing and I am very frustrated by it. I look at what’s happening with the Justice Department, why aren’t they going after Hillary Clinton with her emails and with her dossier, and the kind of money… I don’t know, is it possible that they paid $12.4 million for the dossier…which is total phony, fake, fraud and how is it used? It’s very discouraging to me. I’ll be honest, I’m very unhappy with it, that the Justice Department isn’t going…maybe they are but you know as President, and I think you understand this, as a President you’re not supposed to be involved in that process. But hopefully they are doing something and at some point, maybe we are going to all have it out (emphasis added).

That’s right. His deputy attorney general having assured the public of Trump’s fealty to the rule of law, the President of the United States declared that it was “the saddest thing” that he could not call up an investigation of his political opponent, that he would “love to be doing” things with the FBI and the Justice Department, and that he’s “very frustrated” and “very unhappy” that he can’t. As Rudyard Kipling might have put it, this is the way presidents who believe in the rule of law always talk.

If the President’s remarks once again make Rosenstein look foolish, they are a fabulous tribute to the men and women who work for him.

The tribute is, to be sure, inadvertent: Trump doesn't understand the profundity of the statement he is making about independent law enforcement and its relationship to the presidency. That very lack of comprehension on his part is what makes the statement—and the tribute—profound.

But let's unpack for a moment what Trump is saying here. He is saying with bold frankness that he would like to be able to interfere with ongoing investigations. He is saying just as clearly that he would like to be able to order up investigations of his political opponents. He is declaring himself a corrupt actor who believes that the FBI and the Justice Department should be at his beck and call for political purposes. We already knew these things about him. We knew that Trump is a man who is capable of firing his FBI Director because James Comey would not aid him in such endeavors and of threatening his attorney general and his deputy attorney general—the same deputy attorney general who is still giving speeches about Trump’s fealty to the rule of law—and the special counsel over the inconveniences they pose him in his corrupt attitude towards law enforcement.

Indeed, just this morning, he launched another series of tweets that seek actively to comment upon what the Justice Department should be investigating and how the FBI should be conducting itself: