Trump, "profound" in spite of his efforts to corrupt

Lawfare's Benjamin Wittes argues that Trump has blundered into a profound acknowledgment of the separation of powers embodied in the US Constitution. In a speech earlier this week Deputy Attorney Rod Rosenstein "said Trump’s nominations of distinguished lawyers to top Justice Department posts demonstrated his fidelity to 'American values.'" Trump then proceeded to pull the run out from under Rosenstein in a radio interview with WMAL where he lamented:

But you know, the saddest thing is, because I am the President of the United States, I am not supposed to be involved with the Justice Department. I’m not supposed to be involved with the FBI. I’m not supposed to be doing the kind of things I would love to be doing and I am very frustrated by it. I look at what’s happening with the Justice Department, why aren’t they going after Hillary Clinton with her emails and with her dossier, and the kind of money… I don’t know, is it possible that they paid $12.4 million for the dossier…which is total phony, fake, fraud and how is it used? It’s very discouraging to me. I’ll be honest, I’m very unhappy with it, that the Justice Department isn’t going…maybe they are but you know as President, and I think you understand this, as a President you’re not supposed to be involved in that process.

Right. That's how it's supposed to be. The judiciary is separate from the Presidency. Wittes notes:

That’s right. His deputy attorney general having assured the public of Trump’s fealty to the rule of law, the President of the United States declared that it was “the saddest thing” that he could not call up an investigation of his political opponent, that he would “love to be doing” things with the FBI and the Justice Department, and that he’s “very frustrated” and “very unhappy” that he can’t. As Rudyard Kipling might have put it, this is the way presidents who believe in the rule of law always talk.

If the President’s remarks once again make Rosenstein look foolish, they are a fabulous tribute to the men and women who work for him.

The tribute is, to be sure, inadvertent: Trump doesn't understand the profundity of the statement he is making about independent law enforcement and its relationship to the presidency. That very lack of comprehension on his part is what makes the statement—and the tribute—profound.