By Michael McGough
Los Angeles Times
There’s a maxim in the law that goes “de minimis non curat lex.” A common translation from the Latin is “the law does not concern itself with trifles,” but a more colloquial equivalent is: “No big deal.”
Lawyers and judges sometimes talk about “de minimis” violations of legal procedure or the Constitution.
Unlike some commentators, I think President Donald Trump committed a de minimis violation of protocol when he autographed “Make America Great Again” hats during his visits to U.S. service members in Iraq and Germany last week.
Assuming, as the president insisted in a tweet, that his aides didn’t distribute the hats (an accusation he attributed to “Fake News” reports), his decision to oblige service members who offered them for his signature doesn’t bother me.
As Trump said: “If these brave young people ask me to sign their hat, I will sign,” he tweeted. “Can you imagine my saying NO?”
Actually, I can’t, any more than I imagine Barack Obama refusing to sign a HOPE poster if it were thrust at him by a service member.
“De minimis” also applies, in my view, to the infraction supposedly committed by the service members in bringing political paraphernalia to a meeting with the president. (It wasn’t just hats, either; a Bloomberg News reporter posted a photo of a woman in uniform at Ramstein Air Base in Germany welcoming the president with a MAGA flag.)
Trump signing MAGA hats is a trivial boundary violation compared with his use of the troops as a captive audience for partisan propaganda about his dispute with Democrats over a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border.
“I don’t know if you folks are aware of what’s happening,” Trump said during his remarks at Al Asad Air Base in Iraq’s| Al Anbar Province. “We want to have strong borders in the United States. The Democrats don’t want to let us have strong borders — only for one reason. You know why? Because I want it.”
That politicization of a speech to the troops was outrageous. So if you’re going to slam Trump, focus on that — not on his signing a few hats.
