If Trump believed he was innocent of allegations, why did he act guilty?

Lawyerly analysis of the heavily redacted Mueller Report’s implications may go on until the 2020 election. But unasked in all the sophistry is the obvious intuitive question born of common sense: If Trump knew all along he was innocent of all the allegations, then why, for two years-plus, did he act guilty, constantly proclaiming his innocence while denouncing and/or firing the many he felt were not violating the rules to cripple or end the investigation?

Shakespeare, here paraphrased, said it best: “Methinks he did protest too much.” Robert Mueller’s acknowledged investigative competence may be inarguable; but he’s human. Might he have missed whatever it was that so incessantly filled Trump with dread?

Let the hearings commence.

Ted Z. Manuel, Hyde Park

Artless smear

There’s not enough space here to list what’s wrong with S.E. Cupp’s artless April 18 smear of Bernie Sanders.

First, his income rose temporarily over $1 million because he wrote a best-selling book, then fell back below that figure for 2018, so he no longer has a “millionaire’s” income. Second, we know this because he just voluntarily released 10 years of tax returns — how many “insider politicians” do that? Third, he paid “only” 26 percent of his income in taxes and 3 percent to charity.

What does Cupp think real tycoons pay? Does she seriously think a veteran senator didn’t know the tax dodges to pay less than that if he chose?

Sanders has never claimed he lives in poverty. Rather, he has called for the billionaire class to pay “their fair share” so everyone can live a decent life — and his full disclosure proves he is doing so.

Tony Sterbenc, Barrington