If every branch on a tree is rotten, wouldn’t that tell you something about the trunk??
Maybe the blue wave put too much hope in Robert Mueller, hoping he’d drain the swamp. Or thought he was cleverly starting at the outer edges of the Trump circle, methodically picking off the lackeys and gradually zeroing in on the center of the corruption. Or thought he’d at least come up with racketeering evidence.
Instead, a measly handful of Trump cronies are headed for prison– the white-collar prisons where life is fairly cushy, as far as prisons go. Michael Cohen gets a 2-month delay because he has a booboo in his shoulder–meanwhile, Otisville Correctional Center has enough athletic facilities for a health club, and they sure have physical therapy.
Every single person in Trumpland, every family member in the White House, was doing business with Russia–and so was The Donald. No problem, apparently.
How did Trump get away with not testifying? Probably because that would’ve been a pointless exercise. The truth is a foreign language to him, and we know what he thinks about foreigners.
Mueller found 25 Russians to accuse of interfering in the 2016 election. Common sense dictates that if they were interfering on behalf of Hillary Clinton, she’d be in the White House. Instead of digging deeper into how Russian interference benefited anybody, Mueller distracted everyone with the Stormy Daniels red herring. Really, who cares about how much a dirtbag paid another dirtbag to shut up and go away? That doesn’t bring down a democracy.
Saying that Trump’s closest employees were guilty of conspiracy and lying to Congress, but that he had nothing to do with their behavior, is like Ronald Reagan saying he didn’t know about the Iran Contra deal.
Some questions: Why was Mueller’s investigation restricted, as Ken Starr’s wasn’t? Starr was investigating a president’s extramarital activity, with someone over the age of consent– hardly an impeachable offense. Mueller was investigating (or at least was supposed to be investigating) criminal activity, including treason. Why wasn’t he given leeway to poke into every corner?
And why can’t a sitting president, even a fake one, be indicted? Because the Justice Department says so. Not the Supreme Court. Not the Constitution. Philip Lacovara, who was counsel to the special prosecutors investigating Watergate, said they concluded that there’s no constitutional bar to indicting a sitting president. Instead, the DOJ has placed Trump above the law. ANY law.
Some people are holding out hope that the remaining loose threads will unearth some way to hold Trump responsible for something. But here’s the rub: there’s a statute of limitations. Since a sitting “president” can’t be indicted, if Trump wins in 2020, he’ll outlast the statute. Any possible charges against him will go away. Guess how hard the Republicans will fight to keep him in office? Chances are, more than a few of them are connected to those loose threads.
Mueller cleared Trump of collusion. We will now have to hear “No collusion! Witch hunt!” as long as Trump is in office. Now he can assume the mantle of the innocent martyr, and boy, does the right wing love self-pity. “Poor persecuted me” is their favorite shtick. Mueller’s decision will be used as confirmation that all Trump’s policies are just, he’s right about everything, he’s squeaky clean, the press is the enemy, all Muslims, Mexicans, and African Americans are dangerous criminals, making money on the presidency is just smart business, and it’s not sexual harassment if Trump does it. That’s just for starters.
Expect a vicious vindication lap from Trump. This is not a let-bygones-be-bygones kinda guy. He’s even a sore winner. He will gloat for years– and seek revenge on every single person who didn’t uphold his innocence.
And then Nancy Pelosi says it’s not worth trying to impeach Trump unless there’s big bipartisan support. Talk about taking it lying down! If anything, it would be a good idea for Democrats to take off the gloves now. Okay, they’re demanding to see the full report. Now that Trump has the upper hand, that means nothing.
Let’s hope every U.S. attorney to whom Mueller delegated some work will use a microscope. Although they probably won’t have much enthusiasm for the job, now that Mueller has attached not a shred of guilt to Teflon Don. There may be a lot of rubber-stamping going on.
Lest we forget: Robert Mueller is a registered Republican. Dare we suspect that this two-year investigation was a spectacular dog and pony show setting up Trump as Rocky, to emerge victorious? Or is that too cynical? Time will tell.
Meanwhile, break out the black armbands.