He does the work. I take the check.

The most frightening thing about the New York Times interview with Donald Trump wasn’t anything new. It only confirmed what had been clear from every debate, every previous interview, and those long-vanished press conferences—Trump’s knowledge of most issues is thinner than paper, and his interest thinner still.

There’s only one issue that matters to Trump. Exactly one.

And in one area, Mr. Trump remained quite inflexible: He made clear he has no intention of selling his businesses and stepping decisively away from corrupting his presidency with an exponentially enhanced version of the self-dealing he accused Hillary Clinton of engaging in.

Trump has already demonstrated, multiple times, that he’s willing to use his position as president-elect for actions that are indistinguishable from old-fashioned extortion. There’s no reason to think he won’t intensify those actions once the “elect” is removed from his title.

When the story of Trump’s post-election conversation with the Argentinian president first surfaced, both ends of the discussion disputed that Trump had pressed for approval of a business venture. However, just days later that long awaited approval miraculously came through.

… Reuters later confirmed that Ivanka Trump — who is a key player in the family business — was also on the call. The very next day, the investment group building the $100 million Trump-branded tower in Buenos Aires announced that they were moving full speed ahead, and that they “just barely need to take care of a few administrative details.”

If Donald Trump were getting on the phone and promising foreign leaders US support in exchange for cutting him a check, it would clearly be illegal, but Trump believes he’s protected by funneling this demands through his business. That doesn’t make it one bit more moral or one inch less dangerous.