Vindicated!

or so Trump would like to think

Our "exonerated" president has been doing a victory lap ever since his AG released a 4-page summary of the 700-page Mueller report absolving him of all charges of collusion and obstruction.  The only problem is that the WH is not releasing the full report so all we have is Bill Barr's word that this is the case.  That appears to be enough for the mainstream media, which reported the story as a major setback for Democratic leaders.  Republicans are now demanding Adam Schiff resign as head of the House Intelligence Committee since he refuses to accept this summary as the final word on the matter.

The amusing thing about all this is that the Republicans refused to cease investigating Hillary Clinton for Benghazi and the purged e-mail scandals, spending the better part of four years on this literal witch hunt, which yielded no indictments, let alone prison sentences for anyone involved.  Even after the issue seemed resolved, James Comey reopened the case in regard to her e-mails a week before election day, which many felt aided Trump in overcoming all the scandals swirling around him, only to close the case again two days later.

The Mueller investigation was never about Trump, he just made it about himself.  The aim was to see if members of his campaign staff actively colluded with Russian operatives to spread lies and disinformation during the presidential campaign.  Mueller served up 36 indictments, mostly for perjury, including top aides Flynn, Manafort, Stone and Cohen, all of whom were eventually found guilty.  If we are to believe Barr's summary, Mueller could find no proof that Trump was aware of these efforts to seek information from the Russians that could undermine Hillary's campaign.  All we have is Cohen's damning testimony, which Mueller apparently couldn't verify.

What Trump glosses over is all the links between Russian oligarchs and conservative organizations, notably the NRA, to provide money and resources to Republican candidates favorable to Russian interests.  The list is a long one and includes GOP leaders Mitch McConnell, Lindsey Graham and even the late John McCain.  Since the money was funneled through political action committees they may not have been fully aware of it, but that doesn't absolve them of their role in this ongoing nightmare.  Russia still uses these highly porous PACs to influence elections.  It is for this reason that Mitch has no intention of letting the Mueller Report see the light of day.  I imagine there is much to pick over.

Unfortunately, our mainstream media has lost its journalistic edge and doesn't appear overly interested in pursuing the report any further, other than noting the egg on Democratic faces.  I was shocked by how quickly CNN talking heads ceded the upper hand to Trump, after pummeling him for the last two years with the ongoing investigation.  Trump has turned around and  used the report's alleged findings to pummel CNN and other mainstream news outlets he calls "fake news."

This is far from over and there is no reason the Democrats should let go of the story, especially given most people think Trump has not been exonerated.  Nancy Pelosi has backed her colleagues in demanding the full report be made available to Congress by April 2.  The catch is that the House may have to formally introduce articles of impeachment to force the WH to hand it over, something Pelosi has said isn't worth it.  

Many thought the Mueller Report would be the silver bullet, and many still think it is if only they can get their hands on it, but is it worth the risk?  Mueller was never going after Trump himself.  He was going after those around him,  partly because you cannot indict a sitting president.  We can argue over the independent nature of this investigation since it is not being shared with Congress, but the DOJ is within their rights to sit on it.  I doubt you will find a silver bullet, much less a smoking gun.  We have seen all the indictments and now it is up to the Southern District of New York if we will see any further indictments against the Trump family over tax fraud allegations.

Trump ran his campaign like a mafia don.  He gave cryptic orders that could be interpreted any number of ways, allowing him to deny any direct involvement.  This was clear from Cohen, who provided checks and other forms of "proof" that Trump was fully aware of the events taking place, but these checks were not earmarked specifically for Stormy Daniels or for any other transactions that would incriminate him.  Trump is well insulated as any crime boss would be.  What we ended up with was a whole bunch of nothing.

Worse, the amount of media energy expended on these investigations allowed the Trump administration to undermine the executive branch and all of government for that matter.  It was only with the election of a Democratic House in 2018 that we had some return to proper oversight into the actions of Trump's administration.  Nunes turned a blind eye during his leadership of the House Intelligence Committee and now the Republicans are trying to shutdown Schiff, who leads the committee after being its most outspoken critic when it was under Nunes' control.

Mostly the Republicans want to bury this story as quickly as possible and get onto what they do best: branding Democrats as social liberals hellbent on turning America into a welfare state like Venezuela.  Funny enough they have run into a little problem with this pitch as Russia has taken the side of Venezuela, forcing Trump's hand in trying to topple the Maduro regime.  It is Syria all over again.  Russia knows Trump is a coward and will back down, as he did in Syria.  Another mess for the Republicans to have to deal with.

Fact of the matter there is so much the Democrats can use against Trump and the Republicans on the campaign trail that the Mueller investigation is largely incidental.  Trump has yet to have a single major trade deal ratified.  North Korea remains in limbo.  He is once again going after "Obamacare" and proposed a budget that would slash Medicare and Medicaid by a whopping $600 billion, oblivious to the public outcry against such measures.  He also continues to pursue an unfeasible wall along the border of Mexico that has deeply divided the country.

Let Trump do his victory lap.  Maybe now we can focus on all the horrible things he has done while he has been in office.