I hate being this vulgar to start but my defense is that President Trump said it, not me. It was his reaction to Jeff Sessions announcement that a special counsel was being appointed to investigate whether there was collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign.
The President understood right out of the gate that it would be a relentless, political and vicious battle that was starting early in his presidency. He also decided he would try to counter it at every chance with lots of hot rhetoric about criminal Democrats, hateful Hillary, Bob Mueller’s excess, and so on.
So here we are, with most of the Mueller report in front of us, an army of media commentators commentating on all sides of it and the question hanging in the air of how damaging this will be for Trump. I don’t think it will be damaging at all, and I think that so much I probably won’t read much more than summaries.
Why?
First, the president has a dedicated base, a strong minority in the electorate, who bought his act on cable TV and now can’t see him doing anything wrong. Some of them are nuts, some of them are loyal followers and some of them were so lonely that they bonded as soon as Hillary Clinton called them “deplorables.”
No matter what the report says, they will remain loyal at all points.
He is their man, their ideal, their candidate, as flawed a vessel as has ever been embraced by a slab of the electorate. Because of that, don’t expect this mammoth report to change anything at all. They will be echoing his vindication shouts right up to election day. The report has lots of bad news in it for Trump, but it’s not new bad news for a man widely despised by the people who oppose him.
So, how big a deal is this?
Well, it will give the President screaming points to use in every airport hanger he uses for his quick, don’t let them touch you, rallies. Even when he does go to ground on the campaign trail he can claim vindication. That will make all of them very happy, very cheery, very loud and supportive.
Great, because it’s not enough.
This is a man who puts babies in cages, cozies up to the worst dictators the modern world can present and can actually hear no voice more clearly than his own. He is talking to himself, and the nation has not yet recognized that.
I believe that it will.
Read whatever you need to into the Mueller report. Mueller has done a very good job, very fair and very complete. He could not find a crime he could carry into court assured of a conviction. So that’s what this report is about.
There’s lots of other stuff in the report that will make Trump haters happy, even as the other stuff makes Trump backers happy.
This one can only be resolved with an election.
Work hard Democrats. Shed the candidates who are about anything other than loving America and what it can do in a troubled world.
Madigan’s Gleaner 