At first blush, Donald Trump’s decision to swear off criminal investigations of Hillary Clinton didn’t look like a good idea.

At second blush, it looks like a terrible idea.

The decision, dribbled out in a TV report and then confirmed by aide Kellyanne Conway, is too momentous to come in bits and pieces and from anyone other than Trump directly. He made the pledge at a debate to appoint a special prosecutor, and it smacks of Washington-as-usual for the reversal to slither out the back door.

Yet instead of the president-elect personally explaining his big decision, the public got snippets of comments he made during an interview with the New York Times.

“I don’t want to hurt the Clintons, I really don’t,” the paper quoted him as saying. “She went through a lot and suffered greatly in many different ways.”

Asked whether he had ruled out a prosecution, he reportedly said, “It’s just not something that I feel very strongly about.”

The decision, if that’s what it is, and the ham-handed way it is being communicated, marks his first big blunder as president-elect. Discussing the topic first with the Times, which trashed its standards to demonize Trump and his supporters, compounds the error.

To be sure, there is a pragmatic argument for dropping the pledge. New investigations of Clinton could consume Washington and interfere with Trump’s plans to deliver on big economic and immigration promises, which are more important to the well-being of the country.

Trump had hinted at that view, telling the Wall Street Journal after his victory that Clinton probes were not high on his agenda. “It’s not something I’ve given a lot of thought, because I want to solve health care, jobs, border control, tax reform,” he said.

Another reason to back off is that appointing special prosecutors can be risky because they are free of nearly all oversight, except the courts’.

President George W. Bush was pushed to name one in the Valerie Plame case, and it backfired when the real leaker was never prosecuted while White House aide Scooter Libby was unfairly prosecuted and convicted. Yet arguments in favor of keeping the prosecution promise also are compelling. To start with, the debate pledge was no ordinary campaign blarney.

About 67 million people watched the fiery face-off, and the issue was a centerpiece of Trump’s claim that Washington is rigged in favor of insiders and that he could fix it.

The ideal that all are equal before the law is the essence of America and should not be trifled with casually.

The pledge also resonated because the FBI investigation into Clinton violated many usual procedures. Despite a mountain of evidence that Clinton’s use of a private server led to the mishandling of national secrets, President Obama said it was just a mistake that didn’t harm the country.

As I wrote at the time, Obama’s defense was the all-clear signal, and we later learned that the Justice Department never convened a grand jury, never issued subpoenas and took the highly unusual step of granting limited immunity to five Clinton aides. And don’t forget Attorney General Loretta Lynch’s suspect meeting with former President Bill Clinton during the investigation.

Against that backdrop, the FBI decision not to recommend charges looked like a fix. Trump left no doubt about his feelings, saying Clinton was “guilty.”

Another complicating factor in his latest comments are reports that the FBI has had a two-year investigation into the Clinton Foundation. The focus is said to be on whether Clinton, as secretary of state, traded government favors for contributions to the foundation and millions of dollars in speaking fees to her husband.

Some incidents suggest America’s interests were disregarded as the foundation got many, many millions from multinational firms and foreign individuals and governments. To me, some of those incidents look like bribery.

If that probe remains ongoing, is Trump planning to stop it? If so, on what basis?

All of which raises thorny issues for Sen. Jeff Sessions, Trump’s pick for attorney general. Even before he is nominated and faces confirmation hearings, Sessions is diminished by the president-elect making a critical decision that should be left to the Justice Department. Democrats looking to undermine Sessions and Trump now have new ammunition.

At the very least, Trump must explain his thinking, including whether he believes it’s his prerogative to decide who gets investigated and who gets a pass. Because our current president abused that power, it will come as a disappointment to many Americans if we merely replaced one king with another.

Epic fails at JFK Scareport

The mass panic at JFK Airport last summer after a false report of gunshots was described as a perfect storm of mistakes and confusion. It was certainly that, with thousands of passengers stampeding through terminals and onto the tarmac as hundreds of police officers rushed to the scene, many with guns drawn, and airport officials were rattled and confused.

But a new federal/state report on fixes suggests another more troubling truth: The airport was a disaster waiting to happen. The “perfect storm” exposed enormous gaps in security.

In fact, the fixes seem to be so fundamental that it’s mystifying why they haven’t been in place since 9/11, or at least after terrorist attacks at airports in Belgium and Turkey.

As Politico summarized the changes, JFK security agencies will now “respond to a unified command protocol; they will train together for scenarios involving active shooters; all employees will be trained for active violence response” and the airport will get an evacuation plan.

Were there any plans before the incident?

The answer seems to be not so much, to judge from the chaos last Aug. 14. The reports of gunfire caused panic that lasted for two hours, left thousands terrified, closed the airport, and caused enormous delays for fliers around the world — all for nothing.

Thankfully, nobody was killed or seriously injured. But that was luck, and betting on luck is a sucker’s bet.

Hypocritic oath by Cuomo

Once again, Gov. Andrew Cuomo is demanding that the Legislature pass tough new ethics reforms. Imagine if he applied the same rigor to his own office.

Federal indictments of his one-time top aide, Joe Percoco, former SUNY Polytechnic Institute President Alain Kaloyeros and six business executives expand on a September complaint. Another longtime Cuomo aide, lobbyist Todd Howe, pleaded guilty and is cooperating.

Prosecutors say schemes involved bribes aimed at winning contract advantages for three companies, all of which were big donors to Cuomo.

Party is mad & Dem-ented

Two examples of the madness gripping the Democratic Party. First, a male House member challenging Nancy Pelosi for minority leader is accused of “sexism” because, well, Pelosi is a woman and he’s not.

Second, Howard Dean began his quest to head the Democratic National Committee by calling Steve Bannon, Donald Trump’s chief strategist, “a Nazi.”

Nothing like aiming for the fringe.