W.J. Astore
Robert Mueller testified before Congress today (7/24), the big takeaway being that his report didn’t exonerate Trump of, well, something.
From what I’ve seen, there’s no evidence that proves Trump colluded with Russia to influence the presidential election in 2016. There is evidence Trump tried to obstruct Mueller’s inquiry, but his own subordinates disobeyed or ignored him, thereby protecting him from his own stupidity.
So, Trump didn’t collude with Russia and Mueller was able to complete his investigation, therefore Trump is essentially in the clear, especially on the damning charge of treason. Right?
Not so fast. I recently read Sebastian Junger’s fine book, Tribe: On Homecoming and Belonging (2016), and the following passage resonated:
“politicians occasionally accuse rivals of deliberately trying to harm their own country–a charge so disruptive to group unity that most past societies would probably have just punished it as a form of treason. It’s complete madness, and the veterans know this. In combat, soldiers all but ignore differences of race, religion, and politics within their platoon. It’s no wonder many of them get so depressed when they come home.”
Junger nails it. Accusing your political rivals of deliberately trying to harm America, which Trump routinely does when he denounces Democrats at his rallies, could be construed as a form of treason. Seeking to divide Americans on the basis of race, religion, and other qualities, which Trump also routinely does, is another behavior that could be construed as treasonous to American ideals and treacherous to our ability to come together and govern ourselves.
Trump’s treason (if you want to call it that) is in plain sight. It’s in the way he divides Americans and denounces his opponents as putting America (and Israel!) in danger. His treachery is blatant. The problem is that roughly 40% of Americans seem willing either to follow Trump or to look the other way as he rules through denunciation, disdain, and divisiveness.
Trump will use any tactic to protect his power and privilege. He is an unprincipled and rank opportunist who works for his own self-aggrandizement.
Perhaps that’s not the legal definition of treason, but it is the defining characteristic of a man who should be voted out of office in 2020.
Bracing Views 
In my value system, it appears to me Trump displays more characteristics of the anti-Christ than the Christ his worshiping without question Christian supporters see in him.
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I spent several hours doing some research into the concept of “exoneration,” because I had never heard of it and thought that it sounded legally meaningless since everyone enjoys the presumption of innocence as a matter of course, until and unless a duly constituted jury, after a public trial, returns a verdict of “guilty.” After all, if mere accusations or prosecutorial indictments sufficed to prove guilt, then we would not need constitutions, courts, judges, attorneys, or jurors. Anyway, after collecting my thoughts into a few rough drafts, I took a break and then came upon this, by Peter Van Buren: Missing Line of Questioning in the Mueller Hearing… (July 24, 2019):
Somebody: Mueller, you say your report did not exonerate Trump. In your career in law enforcement and as a prosecutor, how many certificates of exoneration did you issue?
Mueller: Um, none.
Somebody: How many times anywhere in America has a prosecutor issued a memo, certificate or other document of exoneration?
Muller: Never. Such things do not exist. That’s not how this works. Our job is to gather information and prosecute or not. We either bring the case to court, or drop it.
Somebody: So WTF are you talking about exonerating or not exonerating one person who was the subject of your investigation?
Mueller: (Silence)
Somebody: You just said “Our job is to gather information and prosecute or not.” So in Trump’s case, you did not prosecute. Isn’t that the functional equivalent of exoneration?
Mueller: Can I go to the bathroom now please?
Somebody: Speaking of exoneration, isn’t our system based on a presumption of innocence? In other words, Trump is innocent — pre-exonerated I guess — until proven otherwise, which you did not do. Are you saying Trump was not presumed innocent, that you in fact started with him “possibly guilty” until you say he is or is not? [emphasis added]
Mueller: I gotta go.
Media: Mueller Refuses to Exonerate Trump!!!!!
Perfect. Just perfect. I can go to bed now and get a good night’s sleep. More on this article and the Mueller testimony that it references tomorrow.
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Mike: In essence, it’s up to Congress to impeach. Nancy Pelosi and other spineless Democrats don’t want to. (Not that the Senate would vote to remove him.) So Trump is in the clear, and the people will decide his fate in November 2020.
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Yes, Bill. I know that Congress can impeach a president for any reason or no reason at all. (See the Bill Clinton fellatio impeachment for everything anyone should ever need to know about these “special investigator” jihads with their grand-jury perjury traps.) I also know that presidential elections happen every four years at which times incumbents occasionally find themselves turned out of office. I’ve known these things for decades. But I do not need Robert Mueller or the corrupt and useless Democratic party to waste two-and-a-half years of the public’s limited attention span and twenty-five-million taxpayer dollars to tell me what I already knew back in high-school civics class in 1965.
As for Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s reticence in bringing an impeachment proceeding against President Donald Trump: if the tawdry/humiliating example set by committee chairmen Adam Schiff and Jerrold Nadler in their botched Mueller testimony hearings doesn’t demonstrate how badly that would backfire on the Democratic party’s chances in the forthcoming 2020 elections, then I don’t know what would. Speaker Pelosi here demonstrates a justified cowardice, or good sense (it makes no difference) in my opinion.
As you know, received wisdom admonishes us not to interfere while an enemy keeps attempting to shoot himself or herself in the face having already blown off both feet. Consequently, I have never given much credence to accusations that President Trump sought to obstruct an obviously worthless and transparently self-defeating Warlock Hunt [“warlock” means “male witch”] by the same Democrats who tried that goofy gambit in 2016 when they ran a discredited Medusa with a dead NAFTA albatross around her neck croaking “Putin ate my homework!” If I had to advise President Trump of something he already knows all too well, I would suggest paying the Democrats small sums of money (it usually doesn’t take much) to keep flogging “Russia-gate” while the betrayed working-class seethes with economic frustration and easily exploited “culture war” resentments. Of course, President Trump the cynical opportunist must put up some pretence of caring about the politically suicidal Democratic party’s “investigations,” but I would write off those feeble exercises as nothing more than catnip encouragement so that the Democrats do not give up their “next time for sure” hopes. Why would President Donald Trump conceivably want them to stop acting dumber than dirt and too stupid to stipulate? So he keeps baiting them at his campaign rallies and they keep going for the hook.
If the Democrats don’t go full-on anti-war socialist-and-proud-of-it with some combination of Tulsi Gabbard and Bernie Sanders, they can claim credit for putting Donald Trump in the White House for another four years. He can’t do it without them, so of course they will oblige, not wanting to really cause the Republicans any genuine difficulties. Again: the corporate Democrats don’t care if they “win” just so long as they get paid. Or, as Jimmy Dore puts it: “The Democrats would rather lose to a Republican than win with a Progressive.” Even a nightclub comedian running a youtube channel out of his garage can see that.
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I still don’t know how to start this essay, except saying, after Mueller’s disastrous “testimony”, Tulsi Gabbard, my favourite for new President, must find a new party, or invent her own. Lifetime with the Dems, I give up. Seeing Ghislaine Maxwell’s face at Clinton’s daughter Chelsea wedding says it all: They’re “Deep State”. A pimp for Epstein, but invited! Yesterday also proved it true: Muell…’er’. He’s ruined lives and cost fortunes in legal bills to innocents, yet never bothered to interview Steele or Assange. This charade makes Watergate look like a gentleman’s game. The Dems brought about these outrageous charges, to impeach Trump, and got the FBI & CIA to comply: far more dangerous to our society than Putin, Ha! “interfering in our democracy.”
All lies to support impeachment. And any idiot that this “Russia” or “Putin” conspiracy had anything to do with it: stupid. Putin wants a better Russia! Healthcare, pensions, etc.
Things our US “governors” have done NOTHING about!
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I understand how beginning a comment can easily turn into an essay — if not a post-graduate thesis — once we start making lists of relevant examples and assembling citations to buttress our “arguments,” and I mean that word in the sense of dialectical discussion and not ad hominem epithet-hurling food fights (more on this “treason” and “traitor” stuff some other time).
You have brought out many of the most glaring defects of the so-called “Russia-gate” hysteria and properly noted how Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony only highlighted his sloppy police work and nothing-burger of a political hit-piece “report.” As you say, Robert Mueller has indeed ruined lives and reputations with his reckless, evidence-free accusations dribbled out over two-and-a-half years in carefully orchestrated leaks, but once forced out into the open and subjected to public scrutiny he apparently knows little about the subject matter of his own “report.” This should not surprise us, for his “investigation” and “report” have no subject matter. Rank speculation and concocted narrative based on innuendo, “secret intelligence,” gossip, and lies (pardon the multiple redundancies) do not count as legitimate subject matter.
Now, we could go on and on about the sordid details which most of us sentient carbon-based life-forms have known for some time (several of which you mentioned), but I think it more rewarding to inquire as to what issues and persons the Mueller “investigation,” “testimony,” and “report” didn’t — and carefully didn’t — address, by unspoken agreement of all participants in the bi-partisan (or bi-factional) Deep State dog-and-pony show. I recommend, just for starters, a perusal of the following: What Mueller Was Trying to Hide – His investigation was about protecting the actual miscreants in the collusion hoax, by Kimberley A. Strassel, Information Clearing House (July 26, 2019).
I’ll come back to this in a follow-up comment below which will require me to make some preliminary, but germane, observations taking more time than I have available at present.
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Good link MM; thanks. Even more troubling to me is another on ICH of Mueller’s input and manipulation of BCCI bank, Enron, World (whatever) scandal +++.
Many have speculated Mueller, after his disastrous performance, has either dementia or an alcohol problem. I completely disagree: his supposed fumbling wasted time, in his favour, and he was very nasty & ‘on target’ when questioned about his mistakes. Dementia/alcoholism doesn’t work that way after 7 hours: you eventually screw up. He didn’t! To protect the Deep State!
He’s a frightful character of US Imperialism: “fixed” the Iraq War, questionable data on 9/11, etc. There is a “Deep State”, this once ‘non conspiracy’ guy feels. Mueller example #1.
We Americans are going to be forced to ask, SOON! why expensive invasions of Central America are financially worth it – to lower the cost of bananas or coffee 3cents a pound. Had we left them alone, they’d be no Border Crisis – costing Billion$. Same with oil & Iran, but I won’t go on.
I say with confidence tonight Mueller’s ‘Deep State’, that’s why Clinton picked him! I never underestimated “white trash logic”, but she & Podesta did! They’re decent people! These people all over the country – that don’t know each other – hated her!
They’re Americans folks, have more American Rights than a ‘refugee’ caused by big shots looking for even cheaper labor. That’s the problem…..
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I agree that Robert Mueller may not have had a dementia problem as much as a strategy for simply delaying as much as possible so that each Congressman’s 5 minutes would expire before Mueller actually had to answer a question. But appearing old and befuddled might have some use in the future when he has to answer for his part in this wretched affair: like the kid who shoots both of his parents and then throws himself on the mercy of the court because their deaths left him an orphan.
Still, Mueller genuinely did not appear to know many of the details of his report, probably because he didn’t write it. The guy sitting next to him at his testimony, Andrew Weissmann, most likely did. See the rather brutal take-down by British legal affairs expert Alexander Mercouris: Mueller plays dumb & the failed coup by Clinton stooge Weissmann (Video), The Duran Quick Take: Episode 256 (July 28, 2019). Weissmann, it seems, has just secured a book deal (looking for a quick score before the roof caves in on him, I rather suspect). Stay tuned for further episodes of “As the Stomach Turns” …
As for your statement that “We Americans are going to be forced to ask, SOON! why expensive invasions of Central America are financially worth it – to lower the cost of bananas or coffee 3 cents a pound,” I feel constrained to point out that the additional 3-cents-a-pound do not go to a decrease in the price American consumer’s pay but to an increase in the profit margin that global corporations enjoy because of all these predatory “free trade” agreements like NAFTA. “Twice the profit” explains why these U. S. corporations go global instead of producing their products at home in the U.S. with U.S. land and labor.
Anyway, other Justice Department investigations have started up and will soon start issuing indictments. The corporate Democrats will no doubt keep doubling down on their “Russiagate” addiction as all compulsive gamblers do — and the Republicans will gleefully assist them — but both right-wing factions of the One Party Corporate State will assiduously work to keep the Existential Russian Threat alive for all the trillions of dollars they can extort from U.S. taxpayers (and generations of their working-class descendants). “Rob the future now, because no one ever heard the future yell: ‘Stop! Thief!’”
Bottom line: The Republicans just want to keep President Trump off the hook while hanging “the Russians” on it. The Democrats agree about hanging “the Russians” on the hook but can’t resist hanging themselves upon it as well.
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I remember in one of the old Superman movies (we’re talking Christopher Reeve here), when Lois Lane asked him what he stood for, and upon hearing “truth, justice, and the American way,” Lois responded with something along the lines of “well, I guess you’re against most of the politicians in Washington then.” I thought that was funny.
In all seriousness, however, we must remember the words of Marcus Tullius Cicero: “a nation can survive its fools, and even the ambitious, but it cannot survive treason from within. For the traitor appears not a traitor – he speaks in accents familiar to his victims, and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men. He rots the soul of a nation – he works secretly and unknown in the night to undermine the pillars of a city – he infects the body politic so that in can no longer resist. A murderer is less to fear.”
Take this as a warning about Trump, if you will, but once again, he’s not the only one appealing to the base desires of the masses to get what he wants. Bernie Sanders does the same thing with his siren song of “free stuff,” which attracts most people my age (I’m 27), but is a huge turnoff to taxpayers who know that anything the government provides that’s “free” comes out of our paychecks. Not that I’m dissing Bernie here, I’m just pointing out why he can’t win in the US. Much as ending all the wars and shrinking the Military-Industrial Complex would free up a tremendous amount of money for infrastructure, education, and health care, I don’t think that will ever happen. We’ve already seen a first attempt at universal health care, but rather than being socialised medicine, it was a travesty of corporate welfare. The American public education system is already set up to train students for factory work, and to be prepared for the rigid, hostile, and invasive lifestyle of PRISON, (check this out, link to more about Cicero in my comment: https://www.bitchute.com/video/kkVGTMySdGe1/), so it makes perfect sense to merge it with the department of labor. From the cradle to the clink, it would seem.
By the way, I should point out for my fellow Gabbard fans (yes, I’ve joked about her being Bernie’s running mate in the past, but I think she should distance herself from socialism as much as possible) that I keep seeing ads on YouTube for her campaign – she still needs more support to even qualify for the Democratic ticket. She’s not anointed; the DNC doesn’t want her, for the same reason they didn’t want Bernie. She can’t win this time, I’m sorry to say, but for the record: Tulsi 2024!
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Kaja: this was caught in the “spam” folder, perhaps because of the link (don’t know). Great comment.
To be fair to Bernie, he doesn’t promise “free” stuff. He explains that taxes will be raised on the rich and on corporations. He explains that our taxes may go up to pay for universal health care, but that ultimately we’ll pay less in deductibles, co-pays, and the like.
Can he win? Why not? Trump won.
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MAGA is a mythical time, which can be what ever you want it to be. The followers of President Agent Orange and Pastor Pence embrace the Bronze Age Mythology of the bible, with all it’s male dominated authoritarianism. – America was never Great for all Americans.
President Agent Orange has now invoked that old Vietnam War era bumper sticker “Love it or Leave It”. This translates to Support President Agent Orange and Pastor Pence no matter what – Blind Allegiance.
I would counter with Union General Carl Schurz – “My country, right or wrong; if right, to be kept right; and if wrong, to be set right.” Another quote by Schurz is, ” Ideals are like stars; you will not succeed in touching them with your hands. But like the seafaring man on the desert of waters, you choose them as your guides, and following them you will reach your destiny.”
What a striking contrast between Schurz vs President Agent Orange in terms of message. One man, Schurz looks to the stars for guidance and President Agent looks down into a pool of toxic waste.
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I know we are supposed to be serious here – Excuse me I cannot resist this:
Off subject but funny:
President Donald Trump on Tuesday addressed the conservative youth group Turning Point USA in Washington, DC.
The presidential seal displayed on a giant screen behind Trump as he addressed the conference had been doctored to show what appeared to be a Russian imperial eagle clutching golf clubs.
Instead of the bald eagle featured in the official seal of the president of the United States, the image featured a double-headed eagle, which bears a striking resemblance to the one on the official coat of arms of the Russian Federation.
And instead of clutching arrows in its left claw, the eagle in the altered image held golf clubs — most likely a not-so-subtle reference to one of Trump’s favorite hobbies.
Also visible is a fistful of dollars held in the eagle’s claw on the left of the image, and a series of hammer and sickle designs in place of the stars on the US flag in the middle of the seal.
The Washington Post first noticed the discrepancies. The White House told the publication that officials had not seen the image before Trump appeared onstage.
Citing a reader, The Post said the fake seal resembled one being sold online in which the US’s Latin motto “E pluribus unum,” which means “Out of many, one,” has been replaced by the Spanish words “45 es un titere.” This roughly translates into English as “45 is a puppet.” Trump is the 45th US president.
https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-speech-in-front-of-presidential-seal-with-russian-eagle-2019-7?r=US&IR=T&utm_content=buffercf341&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer-bi&fbclid=IwAR24g851HPppl-X5v6jHvsAvDknoEIeNnaTrWwaGipeKXys-3NQXQk1lGfw
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I tried to post this with the link to the article in Business Insider – No Go, so I will try again without the link. The story is in Business Insider.
Off subject but funny, please pardon me:
President Donald Trump on Tuesday addressed the conservative youth group Turning Point USA in Washington, DC.
The presidential seal displayed on a giant screen behind Trump as he addressed the conference had been doctored to show what appeared to be a Russian imperial eagle clutching golf clubs.
Instead of the bald eagle featured in the official seal of the president of the United States, the image featured a double-headed eagle, which bears a striking resemblance to the one on the official coat of arms of the Russian Federation.
And instead of clutching arrows in its left claw, the eagle in the altered image held golf clubs — most likely a not-so-subtle reference to one of Trump’s favorite hobbies.
Also visible is a fistful of dollars held in the eagle’s claw on the left of the image, and a series of hammer and sickle designs in place of the stars on the US flag in the middle of the seal.
The Washington Post first noticed the discrepancies. The White House told the publication that officials had not seen the image before Trump appeared onstage.
Citing a reader, The Post said the fake seal resembled one being sold online in which the US’s Latin motto “E pluribus unum,” which means “Out of many, one,” has been replaced by the Spanish words “45 es un titere.” This roughly translates into English as “45 is a puppet.” Trump is the 45th US president.
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OK, ‘Truth in Disclosure”: Admittedly a few drinks with friends this Friday night; good fun & music! But now sober, WHAT do they want to Impeach Trump FOR?! I don’t like him or his family or cabinet, but where’s the Impeachable crime? It can’t possibly be “Russian Collusion”! Oh dear, sobering up – IT IS!?
Second question is “What ia a “Socialist”? I never called @73 USSR “socialists” – I called them Communists. So did they. When it fell apart, they called themselves “capitalists”, but never gave up the few good things USSR gave them: good healthcare & honest guaranteed pensions. Mitt Romney robbed pensions and made a fortune.
So what do these “socialists” want? I’m more with the old old USSR model than them; the “them” that still like Imperial Invasions; USSR liked influence not costly; The “Socialists”, and I’m getting tired of typing their fraudulent name,
I’m a REAL SOCIALIST! Want decent healthcare & protected pensions. Delighted food providers for airlines are on strike for better wages TODAY! Where were they?! See? A few hacks obviously paid by American “socialists”.
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I think Trump has neutralized the three branches of government, i.e. fossil fuels, drugs, and wars & weapons. His policies, bad as they are, are making lots of money for the vested interests (to use an old term). Wall Street is strong. In short, Trump is safe, and the Mueller Inquiry and all the rest is merely a sideshow as the vested interests continue to make off with all the money.
Even impeachment, if it happens, will be a sideshow, since there’s no hope of conviction and removal by the Senate.
Trump is right: the Democrats, led by Nancy Pelosi, are a do-nothing party. They offer no threat to him. The only threat is a populist movement on the left, best represented by Bernie Sanders, and in this case both establishment Dems and Republicans are united against Bernie.
All hail our leaders in oil, drugs, wars/weapons, and Wall Street/banking!
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