Mueller Time?

July 25, 2019

     Yesterday, Robert Mueller finally testified on Capitol Hill, capping weeks of feverish, if misplaced anticipation.  Democrats either thought that their deft questioning would elicit a new bombshell, or that the mere act of seeing Mueller discussing the contents of his report for an extended time on television would magically translate into a national consensus that the corrupt buffoon in Putin’s pocket has no business in The White House.  Sadly, they had forgotten the overweening emphasis of our political commentators on style over substance. Although Mueller pointedly said that he had not exculpated Trump and all but called him an unindicted felon, his terse and halting delivery caused the pundit class to declare that “the optics were a disaster,” (Source: @ChuckTodd, Twitter, 7/24/19; 12:16 p.m.).

     In the press conference afterwards, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi sought to tamp down any suggestion that the day’s hearings had changed her calculus on impeachment.  It is certainly true that there were no new revelations, and perhaps the Speaker is merely acknowledging the reality that a significant percentage of the voting public doesn’t care.  For a wide swath of the American public, Trump’s racism is the source of his appeal.  His corruption and collusion are decidedly beside the point. Even those who cite judicial appointments or tax cuts as their rationale for supporting Trump must acknowledge that those are just a proxy for the ability to use the machinery of the federal government to hurt those that you despise.

     Still, while the Beltway class and armchair resisters had their knickers in a twist over Mueller’s testimony, Trump continued his campaign of persecution of people of color at breakneck speed.  In the last ten days, Trump has proposed radically re-writing the rules governing asylum in a way that would render most people coming through the Southern border ineligible (Source: “Federal Judge Blocks Trump Administration’s New Asylum Rule,” by Vanessa Romo, 7/24/19).  This is on the heels of the administration’s push to reduce the number of refugees admitted to this country in 2020 by 90%.  Just this week, a teenaged citizen was finally released from immigration detention after being held for three weeks! (Source:  “A U.S. born citizen who was in immigration detention for three weeks has been released,” by Emanuella Grinberg, Konstantin Toropin and Jason Morris, CNN.com, 7/25/19).  And let’s not forget that the conditions of those immigration detention camps in all likelihood constitute violations of the Geneva Conventions, constituting war crimes in a time of peace.

      The truth is that the focus on the Mueller Report has been tragically misguided.  Evidence of high crimes and misdemeanors is staring us in the face, if we care to look.  It is also clear that our representatives will not act unless we force their hand. Our fellow citizens in Puerto Rico have shown us that people power can force the callous and corrupt from office, (Source:  “Puerto Rico governor says he will resign amid intense political pressure, sweeping protests,” by Arelis R. Hernandez, The Washington Post, 7/25/19).  The only question for us is,  are we too lazy and comfortable to follow their lead?

#Shutitdown

#Notinourname

#Impeach45