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Catherine Rampell: ‘The president would never do that!’ Oh, yes, he would.

So we've heard again and again, from Trump allies apparently trying to pre-commit the president to not doing something stupid or dangerous that he's obviously inclined to do.

They said it when they claimed, way back when, that Trump had no interest in starting any trade wars. They said it when Trump was contemplating defying a Supreme Court ruling on the census citizenship question. And they said it when Trump made his supposedly unintentionally racist comments about four congresswomen of color, when they wanted to bridle his itchy Twitter finger.

Each time, right after such pronouncements, Trump either immediately did the stupid or dangerous thing, or threatened to do it soon.