So . . . this was Robert Mueller? This? This stumbling, confused, halting fellow — this was the man who would save us from President Trump? I’m not sure the man we watched in two hearings Wednesday could decide which of the early-bird specials to order at a retirement home in West Palm.
One can’t overstate the degree to which Silent Bob Mueller took up pride of place in the hearts and minds of America’s Trump-loathers over the past two years.
His absence from our public life — no statements, no appearances, no nothing — was the evidence of his overwhelming presence. Mueller was working diligently to rescue America from the result of the 2016 election, and woe betide you if you expressed doubt about that in the liberal public square.
Over the course of his two-year investigation, I would go on TV and say I didn’t think the Russia investigation was necessarily going the way liberals hoped it would. And both on and off the air, I would be told that we just had no idea what Mueller knew, that Mueller was the only person who could see the investigation entire and that he was slowly but surely zeroing in on the Trump-Russia conspiracy.
Well, I would reply, yes, the Paul Manafort indictments are very serious things, but they involve behavior before the 2016 election. No, no, I would be told. Mueller is playing nine-dimensional chess. Manafort will break and tell all.
Then came the Manafort convictions — which were indications that Manafort had nothing to give Mueller, as he would surely have done whatever he could to save himself from spending the rest of his life in prison. No, no, I was told — now Mueller really had Manafort in a corner.
This went far beyond television studios and green rooms. Mueller’s central place in the emotional life of the anti-Trump Resistance was made clear on the evening of Nov. 9, 2018, following the firing of then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions. Thousands massed outside the White House gates and made themselves into a living candelabra that spelled out two words: “Save Mueller.”
Nationwide that night, tens of thousands gathered in righteous panic to demand that Robert Mueller be unmolested in his work. They organized themselves over social media through hashtags like #ProtectMueller.
That specific hashtag has featured thousands of messages like this, from a feed called Democratic Coalition with 256,000 followers: “Great News: Mueller’s office will be able to continue working, even if there is a #TrumpShutdown. Tell Congress to #ProtectMueller.”
Yes, on the verge of a 36-day shutdown of most federal government work, the Resistance was most concerned about the temporary cessation of the Mueller investigation.
Protect Mueller. Save Mueller. Trust Mueller.
And then came the release of the report, which found no conspiracy between the Trump campaign and Russia. That’s what it says. Period.
The crushing disappointment of that simple fact was then buried under an avalanche of “but, the thing is . . .” thinking. And when people are crushingly disappointed but can’t let go, they can get a little . . . emphatic, shall we say.
To wit: The report doesn’t exonerate Trump from the charge of obstruction of justice! The report outlines 10 instances of obstruction of justice! Mueller would surely have indicted Trump on obstruction of justice charges if he hadn’t gone by the ruling of the Office of Legal Counsel that a president can’t be indicted while in office!
Mueller must testify before Congress! He must be freed from executive branch restraint to deliver his findings to Congress and make clear that the last two years weren’t a dud — that his findings provide Congress with what Congress needs to impeach Trump on obstruction grounds!
And so they got their wish. Robert Mueller has testified before Congress. Before two committees. At length.
Mueller isn’t going to save anybody from Trump. Hell, I’m not so sure he can even drive himself home.
If anything, what happened today is just another piece of evidence that the Democratic Party’s determination to indulge its base obsessions in the face of polls screaming at them to stop is just going to get Trump re-elected.
jpodhoretz@gmail.com