Perhaps Donald Trump isn't a racist. But does the 'why' even matter?

Lindsey Graham insists that Donald Trump is not a racist, and perhaps he's right. Sen. Graham is right a great deal less often than he used to be, but he may be on to something this time.

You can be sure that the president isn't a racist, Sen. Graham says, because he treats everyone the same. He doesn't care what color your skin is. If you praise him to the skies, say only nice things about him, and never cross him, he'll be your friend for life. But oppose him, criticize him, or even disagree with him... well, that, and not the color of your skin is what he hates, what he cannot bring himself to tolerate, and what will cause him to go into meltdown mode.

Maybe the fact that the four radical freshman Democrats known as "the Squad" are all women of color is beside the point. Maybe it's just a coincidence. But if so, is that really a good thing? Admittedly, having a racist president is not something America can or should tolerate. But is having a president who simply can't be allowed out in public with anybody but sycophants without embarrassing not only himself but the rest of us finally that much better?

I mean, this is the guy whose finger is on the button. We know from bitter experience how he can mess up our relations with an ally or legitimize and embolden a monstrous regime by simply opening his mouth, which always seems to be in automatic mode, never considering for a moment the consequences of merely blurting out whatever goes through it. We are all too aware how often he embarrasses the nation, drags the dignity of his office through the mud, praises evil dictators and libels decent people though his incessant, ill-considered and impulsive use of Twitter.  At some point, while once again recognizing that racism in a president is intolerable, doesn't the question arise of whether his behavior is simply beyond the limits of what even approaches being acceptable whatever his motivations are?

Which is why accusing him of being a racist may be a mistaken tactic. It may or may not even be true. But it does give him a place to hide. The term "racist" is not misused nearly as often as many on the right would like to pretend, but it is misused a lot- and has lost a great deal of its sting for that reason. For that reason, it's become possible even for people who deserve the label to plausibly pretend that they don't.  They shouldn't be given the camouflage provided by the overuse of a word which should carry a great deal more wallop than it does.

But why focus on why the president consistently acts, speaks, and tweets in ways which run counter not only to the dignity of his office and his ability to discharge his duties effectively but to our nation's interests, rather than the simple fact that it's unacceptable that it's happening at all?

Why give his supporters the option of defending his motives for doing what it's absolutely and utterly inadmissible for him to be doing in the first place, for any reason?

Why speculate on the reasons why he does what he does, instead of on the undeniable- and intolerable- fact that in doing them, he demonstrates beyond rational doubt that he is temperamentally unfit for the office he holds? Especially because that, when all is said and done, is the real issue, and has been all along.

Even if his motives were always as pure as the driven snow, Donald Trump has no business being allowed in the White House on a guided tour simply because he is who he is, and it would be foolish to expect him to be otherwise.