Okay, so Robert Mueller has punched his time card. He’s done his job. He’s going home, he’s gonna kick off his shoes, crack open a cold one, and sit on the porch with his dog, and later catch up on Game of Thrones. Well done, Bobby Three Sticks.
But today we don’t know what’s in his report (and more importantly, what’s not in his report) and a whole lot of folks are freaking out. People need to follow Mueller’s example. Take off your shoes, have a drink, relax a bit. There’ll be work ahead and plenty of freaking-out time to come. But let’s not forget that regardless of what’s in/not in the Mueller report, there’s one thing we know with mathematical certainty.
Comrade Trump is guilty as fuck. Guilty of a wide range of crimes and misdeeds. Guilty in a legal sense, in an ethical sense, in a moral sense, and in a spiritual sense.
This is what we know:
- For years Putin’s Russia has been cultivating right-wing, hate-inspired political groups in democratic nations. He’s done this with semi-legitimate business transactions with right-wing leaders, he’s funneled money to right-wing groups through illegal donations, and he’s used both traditional and social media to spread propaganda supporting right-wing leaders and to create division in opposition groups. He’s done this in France, in Italy, in Great Britain, and of course in the U.S.
- Prior to the 2016 presidential campaign, most of Comrade Trump’s financial support came from Russian banks or banks with close ties to Russia. In addition, many of Trump’s most expensive condos and apartments were sold to Russian oligarchs and folks with ties to Russian organized crime–sales often made in cash.
- Before and during the 2016 election season, Trump was negotiating to build Trump Tower Moscow. He also sought to build Trump Towers in the former Soviet Republics of Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and Georgia. He lied when he said he had no business matters involving Russia.
- Around the same time Trump announced he was running for POTUS, Russian hacker teams began phishing operations targeting the Democratic National Committee and the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee. Other Russian intel operations targeted social media in an effort to support Trump, suppress Democratic voting, and create dissent within the Democratic Party.
- Many folks on Trump’s campaign team (Flynn, Manafort, Stone, Gates, Page, Ross) had major business interests in Russia during the campaign and after the election.
- After Trump won the nomination, the only change his team made in the Republican Party Platform was to water down opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine and Crimea.
- During the campaign and during the transition period, members of the Trump team met with Russian government officials and operative more than 100 times, and initially lied about–or failed to report–those meetings.
- Since his election, Trump has revealed classified information to the Russians in the Oval Office, stalled the implementation of sanctions against Russia, denied Russian interference in the election, fired the head of the FBI who was investigating that interference, met privately (without staff and without any record) with Putin on at least three occasions, openly stated he believed Putin rather than the US intelligence community, defended the 1980 Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, denigrated the NATO alliance (created to provide a collective defense against Soviet/Russian aggression), and continuously undermined the Special Counsel’s investigation.
That’s what WE know. That’s what’s in the public record. That’s what anybody who reads the news can know. Mueller knows more. The other investigations into Trump criminality and malfeasance will know more than we do as well. And that’s just the Russia stuff. Trump criminality is a LOT wider than that.
We also knew Mueller wouldn’t indict Comrade Trump. I mean, he basically said that at the beginning; he said he’d abide by the Department of Justice memorandum that said a sitting president couldn’t be indicted. So there’s no point in whinging about that. Still, Mueller has indicted, convicted or gotten guilty pleas from 34 people and three companies. That ain’t bad.
Again, it’s important to remember that Mueller’s investigation was limited to Russian interference in the 2016 election. Yeah, there was a provision for him to look into “any matters that arose or may arise directly from the investigation,” but it seems he interpreted that as “I guess I’ll just hand the stuff that’s not directly linked to Russia to other prosecutorial agencies.” Which he did.
But here’s the thing: we’re not done. Mueller’s report is just one step on the path to restoring some semblance of normality and lawfulness to US politics. We’ve still got lots of other investigations churning away. We’ve still got a long, ugly way to go. There are a lot of Trumps and a shit-ton of Trump criminality to look at.
We probably won’t ever get real justice, but I firmly believe that eventually some of those fuckers will end up disgraced and shunned — and hopefully in orange jumpsuits. Because c’mon, they’re guilty as fuck.
As long as he ends up leaving in January 2021. To borrow the catchphrase from Endgame….. WHATEVER IT TAKES!
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A Trump re-election would be unimaginable except that the unimaginable happened once before. A Trump re-election would be like buying a Ford Pinto that exploded, then buying another one to replace it.
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I fully expect him to get reelected, because his base votes (and will vote) for him. I have a hard time believing that the Democrats can get their shit together.
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Reblogged this on It Is What It Is and commented:
Mueller’s report is in … much to do about nothing because no one knows anything yet!! … All is speculation as of today. ‘We probably won’t ever get real justice, but I firmly believe that eventually some of those fuckers will end up disgraced and shunned – and hopefully in orange jumpsuits. Because c’mon, they’re guilty as fuck.’
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Dear Greg,
I am all for trouncing President Trump at the ballot box in 2020.I still want a copy of that Mueller report. The way this is being handled by GOP stinks to high heaven They may as well have advertised that the report DOES NOT EXONERATE PRESIDENT TRUMP BY A LONG SHOT AND THE PRESIDENT AND HIS ENABLERS REPEATING THIS LIE OVER AND OVER AGAIN WILL NOT MAKE IT TRUE.
THE MUELLER REPORT AMD THE BARR SUMMARY BOTH DECLARE THE TRUTH, THAT RUSSIA DID INDEED LAUNCH AND CONDUCT A MAJOR ATTACK AGAINST OUR US ELECTIONS INFRASTRUCTURE IN 2016 AND THEY CONTINUE THESE ATTACKS. This is what we need to drive home to our voters, over and over again. Then we have to insure that US voting machines are secure.
But I digress. I like Mrs. Bush decided I could not be a republican any longer and I left in late 2016. This helps me to see things from a perspective that reflects the thinking from both sides of the aisle.
What Dems need in 2020 is a presidential candidate who can message best what Dems offer. The Democratic policies are definitely a step up from the republicans. But I envy the GOP for its ability to deliver, stick to a message and how they keep framing issues.
For example, they point and make fun of AOC GND but at least Dems are presenting a solution/ a direction on how to address climate change while GOP do nothing. It’s like their non existent replacement policy for ACA. The party is devoid of ideas except for cutting taxes for rich folks and for rolling back regulations without any thought to possible serious negative consequences.
Se far I like Mayor Pete Buttigieg, Kamala Harris, Gov. Jay Inslee for his climate change expertise and I’m praying that Stacey Abrams decides to go for it. There’s an abundance of talented folks who can do this job.
In 1952, President Truman defined GOP socialism as any law/ program/ policy that benefits average/ poor peoples.The GOP have been screaming the socialism song, like forever.
In short we can trounce President Trump and his ilk in 2020 and we can fight like hell to have access to the Mueller report. I want both.
Hugs, Gronda
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I agree — at the very least both Democratic and Republican legislators on the Intel Committee need to see the unredacted Mueller report. I’m okay with some redactions being made in a public release of the report in order to protect sources, methods, and practices. I mean, there’s a major counter-intelligence facet to the investigation. But other than that, the public has the right to know what Mueller learned.
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