Commentary: Mueller’s Story Is A Far Scarier One Than Trump’s
By Michael Leppert
michaelleppert.com
“The Mueller Report†turned out to be a thriller compared to Wednesday’s committee testimony. Only a few Americans have read the book. Not many more watched the live performance this week either.
I usually prefer my horror stories on the big screen, not in paperback.
I bought the Pulitzer Prize winning book, “To Kill A Mockingbird,†after I saw the play on Broadway last month. The play was nominated for nine Tony Awards, with Celia Keenan-Bolger winning for “Feature Actress.â€Â I also loved the 1962 movie version which won three Oscars, including one for Gregory Peck as “Best Actor.â€
This story seems to win the big awards no matter what the medium. Of course, it’s not a horror story.
The Mueller Report won’t win a Pulitzer Prize. And Robert Mueller’s performance on Wednesday won’t win an Oscar or a Tony Award either. No matter.
The hearings on Capitol Hill on Wednesday changed absolutely none of the facts and conclusions written in the report. In fact, after having watched the entire Judicial and Intelligence Committee hearings, it was clear to me that no doubts were even raised by committee members about the report’s key findings.
Russia did interfere with our election in 2016. The Trump campaign welcomed that interference. The interference was designed to help Trump win. The president then committed several acts to obstruct the Special Counsel’s ability to investigate the matter.
Only a small popcorn was needed for that movie.
The political structures in Washington are failing America right now. The president and many of his administration and campaign members were investigated during Mueller’s probe. Many committed crimes and have or are currently serving their post-conviction sentences. It looked like a criminal enterprise during the investigation, and continues to look like one today.
The president never agreed to speak to investigators. Mueller never subpoenaed him and reported on Wednesday that his reasoning for not doing so was out of expedience. Mueller was less forthcoming on why he did not subpoena Donald Trump, Jr.
America has grown numb to what has always been obvious about this saga. At no time during the last two and half years has our president led the effort to protect our elections from being manipulated by foreigners. He has resisted acknowledging that it even occurred. He now appears to be alone in that resistance, judging by public comments.  But the political fear of crossing him makes the Senate appear to agree with him, even though they won’t actually say that.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell blocked votes on two election security bills on Wednesday, the same day of Mueller’s testimony. That is not because McConnell wants to appear to not care about the issue. It is because McConnell doesn’t want to cross Trump. And to Trump, a vote like that would imply the 2016 election was not legitimate, and therefore his presidency isn’t either.
On Thursday, the Senate Intelligence Committee released its report detailing the extensive interference it uncovered through its own investigation. I expect McConnell to ignore this report.
So, while many Republicans in Washington know what the obvious right things to do are, their fear of Trump paralyzes them.
Democrats have the same fears.
Should the House impeach Trump for acts established in Mueller’s report? Of course they should. Further hearings are not even necessary do so. The report itself should serve as the congressional version of this indictment.
None of the witnesses from Trump’s team are willing to comply with a subpoena. So, what are Democrats waiting on?
They are waiting for the decision to impeach to become easy. It won’t ever be easy for those in competitive districts.
President Trump is not scared to do and say ridiculous things. Among the most ridiculous has been his avoidance of securing our elections. Since his inauguration, he has met with Vladimir Putin six times. He has spoken with him on the phone ten times. They have exchanged four letters.
Trump did not speak with Mueller and his team once.
The cases against Presidents Andrew Johnson, Bill Clinton, and even Richard Nixon pale in comparison to the one against Donald Trump. Impeaching Trump is a no brainer on the basis of fact and precedent.
That the Senate won’t convict him is not an adequate excuse for the House to not impeach.
Both parties and both chambers act scared of Trump’s political spook stories. Fear is no foundational principle by which to govern.
And by the way, the Mueller spook story is a far scarier one. No matter what the medium.
Footnote:Michael Leppert is a public and governmental affairs consultant in Indianapolis and writes his thoughts about politics, government and anything else that strikes him at MichaelLeppert.com.
POSTED BY THE CITY-COUNTY OBSERVER WITHOUT OPINON, BIAS OR EDITING.
Well, I was tricked into clicking on this clown’s article by the blurb. At least I don’t have to read it.
Wow – directly from this article…
Russia did interfere with our election in 2016. The Trump campaign welcomed that interference. The interference was designed to help Trump win. The president then committed several acts to obstruct the Special Counsel’s ability to investigate the matter.
However, you offer no evidence to back this up and even the ever popular BHO is quoted below (by the way this may be the only things he said that I agreed with) –
“There is no serious person out there who would suggest that you could even rig America’s elections, in part because they are so decentralized. There is no evidence that that has happened in the past, or that there are instances that that could happen this time,” the president said to the future president in October 2016.
Furthermore if you cannot see the web of deceit and attempted traps laid out by the Clinton campaign and our own FBI (phony dossier snowballing the entire investigation) trying to influence the election, you are either in complete denial or more than likely just another partisan hack upset that your preferred candidate didn’t win.
Just exactly how did the Russians or at least the Russian Government meddle in our election? We will probably look for that answer the same way we were looking for nukes in Iraq. Not much difference between liberals and fake news, they try their best to make the truth look like a lie and a lie like the truth. The CIA and FBI have been exposed as frauds, neither are concerned with the truth. After watching Brennan and Clapper for a couple of years its no wonder Trump believes Putin over our intelligence frauds. Trump is greater than I ever expected him to be, love how he exposes the democrat leadership and how they trash out our cities. The democrats have been trying remove Trump from office even before he was sworn in. Democrats need to be declared constitutional domestic enemies of the this country. Unless the Russians can get into the voting machines which would be extreme proof of their meddling nothing else is important. I guess the liberals are fearful because their major voting bloc is made up of people schooled in democrat controlled cities like Baltimore where graduating students are near totally illiterate.
I did read this crap but went to his web page to post this in the comments – awaiting approval from moderators at this time…
Russia did interfere with our election in 2016. The Trump campaign welcomed that interference. The interference was designed to help Trump win. The president then committed several acts to obstruct the Special Counsel’s ability to investigate the matter.
However, you offer no evidence to back this up and even the ever popular BHO is quoted below (by the way this may be the only things he said that I agreed with) –
“There is no serious person out there who would suggest that you could even rig America’s elections, in part because they are so decentralized. There is no evidence that that has happened in the past, or that there are instances that that could happen this time,†the president said to the future president in October 2016.
Furthermore if you cannot see the web of deceit and attempted traps laid out by the Clinton campaign and our own FBI (phony dossier snowballing the entire investigation) trying to influence the election, you are either in complete denial or more than likely just another partisan hack upset that your preferred candidate didn’t win.
For the clowns trying to deflect from the FACTS that Twittler is an illegitimate occupant of White House, they are using the same tired BS by taking something President Obama said out of context. Sad and pathetic, since President Obama was talking about voter fraud, not Russia
“There is no serious person out there who would suggest somehow that you could even — you could even rig America’s elections, in part, because they are so decentralized and the numbers of votes involved. There is no evidence that that has happened in the past or that there are instances in which that will happen this time. And so I’d invite Mr. Trump to stop whining and go try to make his case to get votes†President Obama said during a press conference at the White House in October 2016
Obama’s remarks were in reference to the then-Republican presidential candidate’s claims that widespread voter fraud would rob him of the election, and his encouragement of his supporters to monitor polling places — and not at all about Russian interference in the election.
Trump has repeatedly downplayed and doubted Russian meddling and its effects on the American political process in 2016 and beyond. “That’s because he thought Crooked Hillary was going to win and he didn’t want to rock the boat†Trump wrote of Obama’s 2016 remarks
The comments Trump on Tuesday were about that — Obama’s response to Trump’s claims that the election was rigged and calls for supporters to monitor certain areas on the day of the election
“It’s unprecedented†Obama said of Trump’s claims when a reporter asked about them in October 2016. “It happens to be based on no facts. Every expert, regardless of political party, regardless of ideology, conservative or liberal, who has ever examined these issues in a serious way, will tell you that instances of significant voter fraud are not to be foundâ€
Long article, says nothing. I’ll keep my comments short, since the others are long. Trump welcomed the alleged interference by the Russians? Maybe I’m just misinformed, but I never heard him or Mueller ever say that. What ever happened to Russian Collusion, Mike. Apparently somewhere you folks got off the track. Costing Americans, What?, thirty or forty million.
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