Mueller hearing observations

Image via thehill.com

After watching part of the hearings, listening to and reading the political after-chatter, and sleeping on things, I figured I’d jot down a few observations.

First, I don’t think the public opinion will be swayed either way after all the dust settles.  America has turned away from being an intellectual country to one that wants to be entertained.  Yesterday’s hearing was just that, intellectual and not some form of reality entertainment show.  People are going to have the same impressions today that they had yesterday.  Those who read Mueller’s report will have their views.  Those who read Barr’s summary and listen to the Entertainer-in-Chief will have theirs.

For those with the intellectual curiosity that had not read the report itself, the following points were all exposed yesterday:

List courtesy of Rolling Stone Magazine:

Here’s a list of statements Mueller affirmed as accurate:

• Russia engaged in a sweeping and systematic effort to influence the 2016 election.

• Russia reached out to the Trump campaign as they were trying to accomplish this.

• The Trump campaign welcomed help from Russia.

• Donald Trump Jr. said the campaign would “love” dirt on Hillary Clinton provided by Russia.

• Trump called on Russia to hack Clinton’s emails.

• Trump praised Russia’s release of the Democratic emails hacked by WikiLeaks.

• Trump’s campaign based a messaging strategy around the hacked materials.

• Members of the Trump campaign were trying to enrich themselves personally during the campaign and transition.

• Paul Manafort was trying to achieve debt forgiveness from a Russia oligarch.

• Michael Flynn was trying to make money from Turkey.

• Trump was trying to make money from a Trump Tower in Moscow.

• Numerous Trump associates lied about this, including Flynn, Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Cohen, and George Papadopolous.

• Manafort encouraged others to lie.

• Mueller’s investigation was not a “witch hunt,” as Trump has claimed.

• Russian interference was not a “hoax,” as Trump has claimed.

• Russia wanted Trump to win the election.

• Russia informed Trump campaign officials of this intention.

• Russia committed federal crimes in order to help Trump win.

• The Trump campaign lied to cover up their dealings with Russia during the campaign.

The thing is, if you took the time to read the report when it came out, you already knew these things.  There was basically nothing new learned yesterday.  For the intellectual crowd, yesterday was a wash.  There was no damning statement from Mueller that would feed chants of impeachment.  There was not really any new information to build an argument upon.

For those who sought to be entertained, the view on the hearings depends upon your ideology.  Right wingers likely drooled over Jim Jordan and others who shouted like kids on a playground while covering nothing of substance.  Sure, we heard all about the Steele dossier over and over, but that was not part of the scope of Mueller’s investigation.  At this point, nobody’s proven the Steele dossier was election interference, and that interference was the prime directive for Mueller to investigate.  That was a dumb line of questioning, but I don’t give the current GOP very much credit on being able to conduct a basic interview anyway.  For the left wingers who wanted that dramatic “Got that MFer!!” moment, there was no such moment that occurred.  Mueller’s testimony was dry with simple yes/no answers or responses that he could not answer the question.

So, with the testimony behind us, what happens next?  This brother thinks nothing will happen other than Trump and the GOP’s behavior being normalized and repeated in the future.  If you don’t want to believe me, then look no further than what happened in the Senate on the same day that Robert Mueller warned us that Russia was still interfering with our elections.

Senate Republicans blocked two election security bills and a cybersecurity measure on Wednesday in the wake of former special counsel Robert Mueller warning about meddling attempts during his public testimony before congressional lawmakers.  

Democrats tried to get consent to pass two bills that would require campaigns to alert the FBI and Federal Election Commission about foreign offers of assistance, as well as a bill to let the Senate Sergeant at Arms offer voluntary cyber assistance for personal devices and accounts of senators and staff. 

But Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss.) blocked each of the bills. She didn’t give reason for her objections, or say if she was objecting on behalf of herself or the Senate GOP caucus. A spokesman didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

There has been very little done to protect our election infrastructure or processes since 2016, and attempts to strengthen our elections have been hampered by the GOP.  This is the very same GOP that will tell you that we need to secure elections and pass Voter ID laws that do nothing to stop their imagined rampant voter fraud.  Here, we have a verified, actual threat, and Republicans block attempts to strengthen the system.  It’s almost like they expect to benefit from election interference.  Again.  And, yes, I did say again because we have proof that our election was interfered with in 2016 to the benefit of Republicans.  See the bullet points above.

If the Democrats were serious about impeachment or some other form of reprimand for shenanigans, then they would have already started the processes to do so.  It’s not like there is not ample evidence of wrongdoing by members of this administration.  We have had numerous people lie under oath during Congressional testimony.  That happened during confirmation hearings as well as committee hearings. Trump has been implicated as an unindicted co-conspirator in violating campaign finance law, and we know that because Michael Cohen is sitting in prison now for lying about it.

Unfortunately, I think the time for action by the Dems has passed them by.  There are less than 16 months until the 2020 general election.  They are so busy in trying to govern based on polling and popular sentiment that they have all forgotten about the oath of office each of them took when they were sworn in.  Any impeachment proceedings at this point will be painted as electioneering by the GOP, and we’ve all seen that the GOP messaging is very effective.  They don’t govern worth a damn, but they are the cream of the crop when it comes to sloganeering their asses off.

As it was pointed out, Trump can be indicted after office if he loses in 2020.  I would not advise you to get your hopes up on that though.  Think about how many people went to jail over false intel that led us to war in Iraq in the early 2000s.  Also, think about how many banking fraudsters went to prison after the financial collapse in 2008.  So, don’t get any hopes up of any Trump administration people going to jail after 2020.  I wouldn’t even get my hopes up on Trump losing in 2020 at this point.  Given the success in 2016, you’d be dumb to think that Russia isn’t going to double down on their interference next year.

If it were my decision to make, an impeachment investigation would have began after we found out about “Individual-1”.  If it didn’t start after Mueller’s report was issued, then it’s not going to begin at all.  Dems have been trying to get documents and testimony from the Trump administration, and they have been rebuffed at every turn. Going the route they’re currently using, they may be successful somewhere around the year 2030 if they are lucky.

Congress does have the right to oversight of the Executive.  We know this because that was how the GOP couched their constant badgering of the Obama administration.  An impeachment investigation would have granted Congress access to everything they’ve been stymied over, so the fact that they have not began such an inquiry is perplexing to me.  That makes it seem like Dems want to message that oversight without doing the actual work to perform it.  Beginning an investigation does not mean that impeachment has to happen.  It does, however, give Constitutional power that has been affirmed by the courts to access documents that they want.  That is the only way forward for the Democrats if they truly want to exert their oversight.  Otherwise, it’s cross your fingers and hope for the best in November 2020.

Good luck Dems, the world is counting on you.