Month: April 2019

So the Mueller Report is out, and for reasons I can’t understand, a lot of Trump supporters have bought into Trump’s whole “It’s a hoax thing.”

Mostly it’s because Fox News and Trump himself have been touting the erroneous Barr summary of “No collusion, no obstruction.”

But there’s another part to the Mueller Report that no one seems to be disputing, mostly because no one is talking about it.

That part is this: the Mueller Report proved, conclusively, that Russia was behind the interference in the 2016 election.

Why is this significant? Because for years, Trump has maintained that it was NOT Russia. Most famously, he said he believed President Putin with his now famous “I don’t know why it WOULD be Russia?” Remember, he tried to walk that one back with “Oh, I meant to say WOULDN’T.”

No, you didn’t, Donnie. Not even close.

He has never come out and condemned Russia for the interference.

And since the Mueller Report dropped, it’s all been a lot of “DID TO!” and “DID NOT!” from both sides, but the press and Congress (including the Republicans, if they had ANY guts) should be asking him: Will you now condemn Russia for interfering in the election? Will you reimpose sanctions on them as punishment for this?

Mueller proved that it was a lot more than $160,000 spent on Facebook ads, and everyone knows that – only Kushner and Trump don’t want to admit it. Maybe they didn’t direct it, and maybe they didn’t cut a check, and maybe they didn’t even know it was happening. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt (although they don’t deserve it).

But now, we know for a FACT that Russia interfered.

When is Trump going to stand up to Russia and demand them to stop interfering in our elections?

The answer is never. Because he doesn’t have to. And that means that ole Pooty Poot will just do it again – maybe even more – in 2020.

Russia interfered in the election, and Republicans at best turned a blind eye towards it and now refuse to publicly acknowledge that fact. Saint Ronald Reagan, the most exalted patron saint of GOP everywhere, must be rolling over in his grave. (If there’s an earthquake in Southern California, I guess we’ll know where the epicenter is.)

So, the Mueller Report has finally been released.

Far from the “No collusion and no obstruction” that Trump has been trying to gaslight the nation with, there are a number of startling disclosures.

Summarized, the report basically says these two things:

On collusion: The Russians definitely interfered with the election to help Trump, and the Trump campaign was aware of this. While they did not actively coordinate the interference activities, they also did nothing to stop it.

Here’s the meat of Mueller’s conclusion on collusion: “Although the investigation established that the Russian government perceived it would benefit from a Trump presidency and worked to secure that outcome, and that the Campaign expected it would benefit electorally from information stolen and released through Russian efforts, the investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.“

On obstruction: Trump was afraid that the investigation would pick up on some possible crimes committed by his campaign and took steps to obstruct justice. The only thing that definitely saved him was the people underneath him deciding not to do anything illegal.

In Mueller’s own words: “Fourth, if we had confidence after a thorough investigation of the facts that the President clearly did not commit obstruction of justice , we would so state. Based on the facts and the applicable legal standards , however , we are unable to reach that judgment. The evidence we obtained about the President ‘ s actions and intent presents difficult issues that prevent us from conclusively determining that no criminal conduct occurred. Accordingly, while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.“

You have to ask: If Trump is as innocent as he claims he is, why did so many people lie to cover for him. If his campaign was so innocent, why are so many who worked on it in prison or facing charges.

And just because of the tired “Lock Her Up” chant about Hillary’s emails, there’s this tidbit from the report: “Further, the Office learned that some of the individuals we interviewed or whose conduct we investigated–including some associated with the Trump Campaign—deleted relevant
communications or communicated during the relevant period using applications that feature encryption or that do not provide for long-term retention of data or communications records.” Does this mean we can start chanting “Lock Them Up” when we see the Trump Campaign? Why would they delete them, if they had nothing to hide (taking a page from the Trump Hypocrisy Playbook)?

And finally, you have to ask – if the positions were reversed, and it was Hillary Clinton turning a blind eye to known Russian interference and then attempting to undermine the investigation, would the same Republicans be chanting “No collusion”? I believe they would. They need to put the politics aside and do what is right for the nation and seriously reconsider the man who leads their party – and our nation.