With the Republicans doing their victory lap around “no collusion” in the wake of the Mueller’s report most essential finding, it’s interesting to observe how completely feckless they’ve become. There are so many places where Democrats and Republicans are different, and where the difference is easily observable.
| But before we get there, let’s acknowledge the essential finding of the Mueller report: no collusion. |
Color me surprised. With all the contacts the Trump people had with the Russians during the campaign, I would have thought the Mueller people would have found something. But they didn’t. We were told that Mueller is the most thorough straight-up guy, and we bought into that pitch. So now we have to live with the result.
(I was really surprised, I must say, that Mueller couldn’t come to a conclusion about obstruction of justice. Wasn’t that his job, to come to a conclusion about that?)
So now here come the Republicans with their victory lap. Instead of saying thank you to Mueller, they want:
- The media to apologize (and to be fair, the media coverage of the collusion question has been a little bit hyperbolic at times).
- To investigate the FBI and Justice Departments, and anyone else who was involved in the investigations.
- To claim that the Mueller investigation was a giant waste of money.
So, in response, it needs to be pointed out:
- More money was wasted on the half dozen futile investigations into Hillary Clinton, which produced no indictments and no convictions.
- The Mueller investigation has already produced 41 indictments, a number of guilty pleas, and who knows how may convictions.
- We won’t know about obstruction of justice until we see the full Mueller report.
- There are still a half dozen other investigations going on, some in various United States Attorney’s Offices, some by various state Attorney Generals, and some by the House of Representatives.
It’s way too soon for a victory lap my Republican friends.
Some commentators have pointed out that the Mueller report is like at national Rorschach Test: we all see what we want to see.
There is probably a lot of truth to that, which is why I’m working hard to accept the Mueller report’s finding on “no collusion.” It is what it is. Mueller had enough time and resources to find collusion if it was there, so maybe President Liar-in-Chief isn’t actually a provable traitor.
Small consolation.
The Republicans should be embarrassed by the behavior of this President. By the way that he behaves every day. But clearly that isn’t going to happen. I keep saying that the “win at all costs” party will regret hitching their wagon to this particular asshole in the near future, but it has not yet come to pass.
We’ll see.
Just as we’ll see what else is in the Mueller report, which I plan to read in as much detail as I can if it is ever made public.
As transatlantic observer not wired into the tribalism of US politics, it puzzled me why Democrats pinned so much hope on the “collusion” allegation. Do they seriously believe that’s why they lost the election? Or could it be they lost because they had a tainted candidate and no clear message to an electorate fed up with “same old, same old”. Get over it and focus on winning in 2020.
That one I can explain to you Jakester. There was lots of evidence out there in the ether that Trump and his people had colluded with Russia, and if they had, that really would have been treason. Important to know. But Mueller is the guy we brought to the dance, and he’s the guy we have to go home with. There’s still plenty of reason to believe Trump obstructed justice, but I think my people thought Trump would be easier to defeat if there was hard evidence that he had committed one or more crimes.