I think it's perfectly reasonable. His stance is that abuses don't happen, and the law does not need to be written to protect us from abuses, since his governme

I think it's perfectly reasonable. His stance is that abuses don't happen, and the law does not need to be written to protect us from abuses, since his government will [not abuse the law], and thus we should allow such abuses in the law as written. We all thought that was unrealistic at the time, but since this is his position, it is reasonable to attribute the consequences of his position to him also.