"Trump Says He Would Accept Dirt On 2020 Opponent From Foreign Government" -- My comment: Do you feel safe?

"Asked by ABC News if he’d listen to information offered by another country about a rival, the president said, “I’d want to hear it.” He added he might not tell the FBI."

My Comment: Hillary Clinton and many others have said Donald Trump is unfit to become President of the United States the highest office in the land imbued with a plethora of power he can wield from Executive Orders on almost anything to the command setting off a nuclear blast just because he thought it might be a blast to do so.

My father was a small businessman for give or take 40 years.  He sold many things like paint, wallpaper and some hardware.  If someone came into his store and offered some interesting news on a competitor would he have taken it?  Of course he would it's a business after all in the business of making money for him only.  If he could have some knowledge about a competitor he probably would not have thought twice about taking it and he should have taken it.  Why?  Because it has nothing to do with the national security of a nation.  It has everything to do with a private business of no national import. 

A more compelling question around the instant issue of Trump saying it's perfectly okay for him or his campaign to get "dirt" on his political adversary is if my father were President of the United States and a foreign power during his campaign and afterwards offered some information on one of my father's personal electoral adversaries would he have taken it?  The no brainer answer is OF COURSE NOT!  There is a difference between being an average entrepreneur accepting information on a business competitor and being president of the United States, a position of monumental power over the lives --- let me say that again -- THE LIVES, 350 million of them -- of those governed.  Accepting information from another power be it an adversarial power like Russia or North Korea or Trump's example of Norway, a US friendly nation state, does not matter.  Once that information is given and accepted, that giver nation has the receiver in its power for blackmail or otherwise. It is insertion in the power dynamics of a nation state that could be of use to the nation offering it.

Trump is treating this issue in a way he has all his life as a builder of tall buildings and that is to accept any advantage one can no matter the source because he was a businessman, a builder of things that had nothing to do with his exercise of power over millions of people in this nation and around the world.  That is the critical difference.

Clearly it is against the law for a person of political office to accept information or anything of value for one's campaign from any foreign nation be it friendly or adversarial. 

See: 18 USC 912 -- Demanding Or Obtaining A Thing Of Value: "The distinguishing element of the second offense in § 912 is demanding or obtaining a thing of value. This element is not limited in its application to things having commercial value. Even something as intangible as information has been held sufficient." United States v. Sheker, 618 F.2d 607 (9th Cir. 1980).

This unfit for the presidency Trump made a statement to ABC's George Stephanopoulos that said in pertinent part: he would accept information from a foreign government on his opponents in the 2020 presidential election and suggested during his interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that he also would not need to alert the FBI. He is NOT acting as the owner of Trump Enterprises although some have said that Trump used his election as president of the United States for his own personal aggrandizement and nothing else. 

The campaign question becomes do you feel safer now then you did before the election of our civics know nothing President Donald J. Trump?  The answer to me would be a decided NO!