Sorry, Trump supporters. I realize you think the Mueller report finding no collusion with Russia justifies a victory lap, with images of disappointed Democrats dancing through your heads.
Think again.
I'm a Democrat who is feeling pretty darn good right now. Here's four reasons why.
(1) Impeachment is even less likely now. Democratic leaders in Congress haven't been pushing for impeachment of Trump. Nancy Pelosi has said that she is against starting impeachment proceedings unless there's a bipartisan consensus in favor of this. Which will never happen.
I suspect that impeachment now is even less likely, since apparently there's no smoking gun evidence against Trump in the Mueller report. This is good news for Democrats and bad news for Republicans -- since impeachment would fire up the GOP base in the 2020 election.
(2) Obstruction of justice remains a hot issue. Well-informed legal analysts on MSNBC made some great arguments about Mueller's lack of a conclusion about whether Trump obstructed justice. Attorney General Barr said that he independently concluded that there wasn't enough evidence to justify an obstruction of justice case.
This was a dubious thing for Barr to do.
He is a Trump appointee. He wrote a 19 page memo in 2018 arguing that likely Trump couldn't be found to have obstructed justice. So his credibility on this issue is very low. Democrats will surely question Barr in an open committee hearing about his conclusion in today's 4-page Mueller report summary regarding obstruction of justice. This will keep the issue alive.
(3) Good stuff for Dems likely lies in the report. Barr only included a few brief direct quotes from Mueller's report in the summary he released today. I suspect once Congressional Democrats are able to read the report itself, hopefully along with the underlying documents, quite a bit of good stuff for Dems and bad stuff for Trump will come to light.
This will be especially true on the obstruction of justice front, but it's hard for me to believe that additional evidence of contacts with Russians by people associated with the Trump campaign isn't in Mueller's report. Maybe this doesn't rise to the level of collusion or conspiracy. It sure won't make Trump look good, though.
(4) Other investigations continue on. Legal analysts are fond of saying that the Mueller investigation likely is the least of Trump's worries. The Southern District of New York is delving into issues that could end up being much more serious for Trump, building in part on Michael Cohen's cooperation with investigators regarding Trump's shady financial dealings, the Stormy Daniels payoff just before the 2016 election. etc.
Trump is going to be in legal trouble all the way through election day 2020, most likely. Maybe his base won't be bothered by this. Probably independent voters will be, though. I remain confident that Trump is going to be a one-term president. He can proclaim all he wants about "No collusion!" but this won't be the issue that decides the election.
Rather, Trump's lack of character and his bad policies will lead to a Democrat being elected president in 2020.
This is a great summary. I don't see your name anywhere on the opinion. I will keep following you.
Posted by: Marge Lawrence | March 25, 2019 at 07:20 AM
Blogger wrote:
"I'm a Democrat who is feeling pretty darn good right now. Here's four reasons why."
--You should be feeling pretty pissed off right now that the media colluded to perpetrate this Trump- Russian collusion scam on the American Public the last few years. All the talking heads parroting in unison, "Russia, Russia, collusion collusion. Trump is a traitor, a liar, a cheat." And you fell for it hook, line and sinker. Got sucked right in. The media are the liars and the traitors for trying to undermine a legitimately elected president by 63 million Americans. Why? Because they don't like him. He's not one of them. He's un-presidential, crude, sophomoric, an outsider who won't play ball the way they want it played. Their candidate didn't win and they could not handle it. It wasn't supposed to happen this way. How could it? Trump must have had Russian help. That's the only explanation that loathsome boor could have gotten elected Right? There aren't enough deplorables and Wall Mart shoppers smart enough to even find the voting booth to vote for him. It had to be a fix. The irony is that Hillary is the one with suspect underhanded business involvement with the Russians. Why not investigate her?
Blogger wrote:
"Well-informed legal analysts on MSNBC made some great arguments about Mueller's lack of a conclusion about whether Trump obstructed justice. Attorney General Barr said that he independently concluded that there wasn't enough evidence to justify an obstruction of justice case."
--And you want to trust "well-informed" legal analysts put up by the very network that conned you for the past several years? Once faithful, always faithful. I guess. Barr says that there wasn't enough evidence to charge obstruction of justice and somehow you read into that that somehow there is? When is enough enough? Never, as long as Trump is breathing apparently.
Blogger wrote:
" Good stuff for Dems likely lies in the report... Other investigations continue on."
--Yeah. Like more dead end leads that the Muller team could do nothing with after years of investigation. For you it would be better that the country stays mired in this muck for the rest of Trump's term than to get on with the country's real issues, like failing infrastructure which should be a paramount bipartisan concern among many other practical issues. But that's not good for the bottom line. Salacious scandals are what draws in viewers even if they are bogus, fake, distorted and unsubstantiated. The media is a disgrace and has served to divide this country far more than i have seen in my lifetime.
You should be glad that under Trump unemployment for minorities and women is lower than it's ever been. Rocket Man isn't lobbing missiles over Japan. Isis is 99% a done deal. Iran has been subdued. Lots more.
You had best hope the economy tanks before 2020. That's the only thing that will beat Trump now...when your index funds are on the skids and you have to downsize and sell your home in a slumping market. That's when he will be vulnerable. Oh happy days! I'm practically broke but that sumbitch Trump is gone at last!
Posted by: tucson | March 25, 2019 at 09:15 PM
First of all I have to say that, of all of the ultra, ultra, ultra, ultra left wing liberals that I know, Brian is the most result oriented one of all. He fights to win and he wins. That's great.
THEN I read this garbage he posts that bundles him with the masses of loosing failures in politics..
Well; disappointing to say the least.
If I were asked, " So, what has Brian Hines actually initiated, organized and followed through, to the benefit of Salemites" I have a list of positive responses.
Yet, he chooses to align with those of ZERO track record, failure in the polls, witch hunt embarrassments; What are you thinking?
ANSWER: You are on the loosing end!
It's time to meditate back to your 60s meditation and OPEN YOUR MIND!
Lock-step, straight line thinking is unbecoming of you, Brother Brian!
Posted by: Skyline | March 25, 2019 at 09:59 PM
Bottom lines here are that:
1) Collusion was apparent. For example, there is clear proof that Don Jr. met with the Russian agent who offered to provide the Trump campaign with Clinton e-mails. Corroborating evidence was established during the investigation. The problem was that there was no prosecutable crime. Coupled with the sensationalism of the press (Maddow in particular), the importance of this matter was exaggerated and has damaged the credibility of Trump's critics.
2) The reason that Mueller could not indict on the prosecutable crime of obstruction has to do with the limited authority of the "independent" counsel. A Watergate era law was allowed to expire in 1999 and that resulted in less independence from the Attorney General and the DOJ. The result in this case is that Mueller felt duty bound to defer to the Barr, who had already compromised himself by discrediting the report before it had been completed and submitted.
I was around during the Watergate era. I saw how public opinion shifted overnight when Archibald Cox was fired and when the 18 minute gap defense was put forth. Americans still have a sense of right and wrong and I expect that this whitewashing will result in a marked increase in political disparity that will continue to increase our political disunity and instability.
Posted by: Kurt | March 26, 2019 at 12:55 PM
This opinion piece in Newsweek is the deep breath I think a lot of folks need. Especially those who were expecting the Mueller report to open a closet door and a bunch of Russian skeletons to come tumbling out. We were not misled by media. Most media, even the boogeyman mainstream media, actually did get most of it right.
https://www.newsweek.com/trump-mueller-obstruction-barr-collusion-media-gop-1376863
Posted by: NotEvenWrong | March 27, 2019 at 08:27 AM