Unsatisfying As It May Be

To say that the Mueller Report as summarized by Attorney General Barr is not very satisfying to anyone who wants to know the truth would be understating the situation. Regardless of the feckless gloating by right wing buffoons, however, Mueller did not say Trump was innocent. At best, it can be said that Mueller did not find definitive evidence that Trump conspired with the Russians in regard to the election. In regard to obstruction of justice, Barr even said that although the Mueller report “does not conclude that the president committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” According to Barr Mueller left it to Barr and the Justice Department to determine whether the evidence Mueller provided is enough to conclude that Trump committed a crime, and that he (Barr) concluded that Trump did not commit the crime of obstruction of justice because there was no underlying crime! Which is to say there was no obstruction because there was no conspiracy Trump needed to conceal. The problem is that if Trump was not trying to hide something, why did he lie about his contacts and dealings with Russians? Why did so many of the people involved in the Trump campaign, including Jeff Sessions, lie about their contacts with Russians? And why does Trump still act like Putin's man ho?

There is obviously more here than meets the eye. This goes beyond mere smoke; this is the paint on the walls blistering from the heat! But the first thing we must remember is that Mueller's assigned task was narrow, and he, Mueller, handed off many matters to be investigated by other DOJ offices and state courts. We should also bear in mind that even the question of coordination between Trump and Russia during the election is not necessarily closed.  There is also a very strong possibility that Trump is guilty of even greater crimes that have yet to be discovered.  That was certainly true of Nixon during the Watergate scandal. In his book Chasing Shadows, University of Virginia Press, 2014, Ken Hughes wrote that President Nixon covered up and obstructed the investigation of the Watergate break in because he was afraid that the investigation would uncover a plethora of other crimes, which included Nixon's interference with peace talks that would have ended the Vietnam War prior to the election that put Nixon in the white house. In other words the acts that caused the downfall of Richard Nixon did not involve his personal and prior knowledge of the break in at the Watergate, nor did all of the impeachable offenses brought against him rise to the level that our legal system defines as crimes. I find it hard to believe that anyone can look at the evidence against Trump and conclude that his matter, this investigation of Trump should now end.  There are simply too many questions (some of which involve our national security) that demand answers!  

One of the major problems with what has been released thus far is that it is Barr's work product rather than Mueller's! We do not know how accurately Barr's letter characterizes the evidence Mueller gathered or any of the conclusions Mueller stated. All we know is that Barr stated his own conclusions. Furthermore in evaluating Barr's conclusions we must bear in mind that Trump fired Attorney General Sessions because he thought Sessions should have protected him,Trump, from Mueller's investigation! And that Trump appointed Barr to Replace Sessions as Attorney General because Barr had sent to the Justice Department an unsolicited letter criticizing Mueller's investigation and stating an absurd definition of obstruction of justice that would make it almost impossible for the president to be charged with obstruction of justice. So in regard to the Mueller investigation and/or Trump's guilt or innocence Attorney General Barr is the turd on the lawn; he is out of place and smells to high heaven! This is why congress has to be provided with the full Mueller report and all of the supporting evidence! It is also why there has to be public hearings with testimony from Mueller, Barr and others. The people of this nation demand and deserve no less than a full disclosure of what has been found thus far, a full investigation of other possible wrong doing, and a credible process!

Simply Disgraceful

What do Republican diapers trying to cover the ass of the most corrupt and incompetent president in our nation's history do when a witness at a congressional hearing is testifying against that president? What do they do when the evidence seems to make the witness's descriptions of the president's indefensible acts all too credible? The answer is that they, the diapers, do not try to defend the president or his actions. In fact they do not even mention the president if they can avoid it; instead they point to the witness and say that the stench you find so objectionable is coming from him. So during the testimony of Micheal Cohen there was not a single congressman who tried to defend Trump from the allegations made by Mr. Cohan. Which is to say that no congressmen denied that Trump committed the criminal acts Mr. Cohan described or offered an exculpatory explanation for any of Trump's actions.

While disparaging the character of a witness offering testimony damaging to your client in an effort to destroy that witness's credibility is a common defense tactic, it is unlikely that any objective observer would deem that to be an adequate defense in the absence of any denial of the allegations that witness is making. “You say the witness is lying? How do you know? What is the evidence? What is the alternative story?  What is the truth? Unfortunately for the Republicans the alternative story is not self evident or credible. Mr. Cohan was testifying under oath and had everything to lose if he lied. Mr. Trump refuses to testify under oath. Furthermore, it is not exactly a state secret that Donald Trump lies about everything all the time. In fact the Washington Post Fact Checker says that “[i]n 759 days, President Trump has made 8,718 false or misleading claims.”

I have one word for the Republican Party and Trump's diapers. And that word is Watergate! The Republican Party defended Richard Nixon right up until the smoking gun was produced, and they did so in spite of the fact that his guilt was evident way before that gun was produced. The election following Nixon's resignation was a disaster for Republicans in spite of the fact that the hard right wing of the party remained loyal to the Republican Party and continued to deny Nixon's guilt. The base Republicans may hide from reality by cowering behind a dense wall of willful ignorance and self deception, but even uninformed independents who occasionally find themselves behind that wall will eventually peek over or around it. What should not be lost on the moral midgets in the Republican Party is that the chumps who think Trump can do no wrong are a minority. While that minority can control many primary elections, it cannot carry many general elections – particularly when independents finally figure out they have been had! Just take a look at the results of the last elections and at the recent polls, all of which show that Trump's disapproval rating is above fifty percent.

The shameless pandering of the Republican Party to Donald Trump demonstrates a complete lack of moral courage, and I would argue a lack of loyalty to this country. I say this because the Republicans are failing to protect and defend the vital interests of this country from Trump and Putin! To put it bluntly, the Republican Party is a disgraceful cluster of immoral demagogues and a serious threat to our democracy!