The Mueller Report: Is That All There Is?

After two years and millions of dollars in taxpayer money invested (some would say wasted), Special Counsel Robert Mueller's investigation of possible influence by the Russian government into the 2016 presidential election has apparently determined that (A) there was no collusion between President Donald Trump and the Russians, and (B) no conclusion was made on whether Trump obstructed justice or not.

We say "apparently" because that is the interpretation of Attorney General William Barr in his four-page memo.  It is likely the best information we're going to get, unless Congress succeeds in getting Barr (Trump's hand-picked choice for the AG job after Jeff Sessions left) to release as much of Mueller's report as legally possible.

Because there's still too many questions about what's in the report and what isn't, this is not going to stop Democrats in the House of Representatives or the Southern District of New York from investigating alleged wrongdoing by Trump, his family and his cronies.  Barr and Mueller are expected to testify under oath before Congress.  But the report's apparent conclusions certainly takes the heart out of any momentum or significance it might have had, given that a sitting President can't be indicted, according to the Justice Department.

For the President, he can tweet and shout "NO COLLUSION" all he wants.  But he won't be magnanimous in victory, attacking enemies like the Democrats and the media just like he did with John McCain and "Mr. Kellyanne Conway".  (He did say nice things about Mueller, but only after the report was done.)  Trump will still take advice from dictators than his own intelligence people, ramble on in front of adoring audiences, and play golf at his own resorts.  The legal messages he still has to navigate might still bother him, but it won't be enough to affect his reelection plans.  He now has a new incentive to stay in office for the next four years:  Staying out of jail.

For the Democrats, they can investigate Trump all they want.  But even House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has conceded it's not worth the trouble to impeach him.  As long as Democrats have the House, they might as well get back to the issues that resonates with voters:  climate change, improving health care, immigration, etc.  It might even help them in the 2020 election by running on those issues, and not harping so much on Trump's record.  But the crowded field of presidential candidates, which so far includes mostly has-beens and newcomers, does not inspire much confidence as real challengers to Trump.

For the Republicans, they need to grow a spine.

For the rest of us, after two years of intense scrutiny by Washington, the media, and Trump's constant heckling, we have to ask if the result was all worth it given the amount of material Mueller had to work with.  We ended up expecting more and got less.

Pundits liberal and conservative have been telling us over the past few days that it is good for the country that Trump was not charged with collusion.  It doesn't feel that way.  Instead it was more like Trump has bamboozled the American people once again.  And not for the last time, either.