Yesterday, the full-but-redacted Mueller report dropped, and to the surprise of absolutely no one, the Republicans screamed “total exoneration” and the Democrats screamed “impeachable offenses.” The truth? As with the totality of Trump’s tweets and public pronouncements, you can dig out or cherry-pick almost anything you want in there to satisfy your predilections.
Almost.
Mueller found no collusion. That was pretty plain, and given the depth and scope of his investigation, he would have found it if it were there. The President is not a traitor. That’s a Good Thing, and if you’re sad about that, you really should reassess your priorities.
Mueller didn’t wholly clear Trump of obstruction, in the lay, moral sense. He cleared him of it in a legal sense, as in he did not find violations of law sufficient to be actionable. Trump lied about a few things, looked to work the system to his benefit, hid things from the public, and did some other unsavory stuff.
A politician lied and did unsavory stuff.
This is my shocked face.
Seriously, anyone who expected the Mueller report to portray Trump as the second coming of George Washington has engaged in epic self-delusion. We all know (and have known for a long time) what he is. Does his behavior shock the conscience? It should, if one has never paid any attention to politics, past or present. Anyone who has, though, knows that Trump isn’t an outlier, not by any stretch of the imagination. In fact, some have made a sound argument that he’s been more honest and a better promise-keeper than many of his (highly-regarded) predecessors.
Others’ shittiness does not excuse Trump’s shittiness, of course. But, looking to impeach Trump for behavior that I feel safe in saying is widespread throughout American, world, and historical politics is turning a tool meant for prosecuting crimes into a political lever, and risks corroding the already gummy and rusty American political machine into a state of near-paralysis.
No, it’s time to move on from the impeachment talk. Were there a collusion revelation, he’d deserve to be run out of office. But, absent that or an equivalent bunker-buster bomb, impeachment talk should end. The dust-devils of political business-as-usual do offend, but you don’t burn the house down in order to clear them.
We’re more than half-way through his term, anyway, and by the time an impeachment proceeding gets up and running, we’ll be well into the next election season.
It’s time to put the decision about Trump back in the hands of the voters. Democrats, run your candidates, talk up your policies, tell us why you should be put in charge of things. Tell us all about Trump and what’s in the Mueller report. Tell us why your nominee should win. In other words, run a political campaign for the Presidency. Win my vote with your plans and policies. Just, please, get on with it, and stop trying to undo the past, no matter how mortally offended you are by Trump’s existence.
The country will be better off.
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