I was telling my neighbor Swamp Rabbit that Doug Burgum, the Secretary of the Interior, says solar farms aren’t a good alternative to gas and coal because “when the sun goes down, they produce zero electricity.”

Swamp Rabbit’s bloodshot eyes narrowed. “The Interior boss said that? You’re putting me on, right?”

I told him that the congressman couldn’t believe it either. He ironically told Burgum about an invention called the battery. But Donald Trump’s flunkies are irony-proof; they merely repeat what the criminal-in-chief wants to hear. When confronted with the truth they respond with willful ignorance, as Paul Krugman noted.

“Willful’s got nothin’ to do with it,” Swamp Rabbit said. “They’re just stupid.”

“Au contraire, grisly man. The high-level MAGA suck-ups realize Trump always lies, but they make believe his lies are true. They know it’s not healthy to disagree with Dear Leader, they would lose their jobs. Worse than that, they would lose their share of the grift.”

Swamp Rabbit looked unconvinced, so I tried again: “Do you really think Cabinet members believe Trump’s lies? That renewable energy is a hoax, or that he can bring down grocery and energy prices and destroy Iran at the same time?”

I argued that Trumpers who don’t understand basic science or supply and demand or the art of the con might be authentically stupid and therefore partially off the hook for the harm Trump’s policies are doing to the world. But Trumpers who know Dear Leader is pushing dangerous bullshit — the flunkies at the top of his regime — are just as guilty of criminal behavior as he is. They’re willfully ignorant, not stupid, and deserve to be prosecuted along with him, if and when the rule of law is restored in this country.

I asked Swamp Rabbit if he accepted my premise. He snapped open a can of beer and yawned. “They’re willful, they’re stupid. What’s the difference? We’re all screwed either way.”

Footnote: Burgum defended Trump’s ballroom and other vanity projects while trying to minimize the damage that would result from his department’s plan to cut $1 billion from the National Park Service budget. This was at the same House hearing where he learned about batteries and responded to positive data about wind and solar by claiming “the data’s lying.”