Opinion

Trump triumphant

March 26, 2019

To the utter dismay of the US liberal establishment, Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s much-anticipated investigation has failed to find any evidence that Moscow conspired to help him win the 2016 election. However, Trump-haters are drawing as much consolation as they can from Mueller’s further finding that he could not be sure if the president had sought to obstruct justice.

All this became evident in a four-page summary of the Special Counsel’s report that Attorney General William Barr delivered to Congress. Trump’s enemies are now demanding that Barr should release the entire report, without any redactions. The administration will almost certainly argue that the contents are protected by executive privilege. There is, however, a strong case for putting the entire document in the public domain. Mueller’s probe took 22 months, involved 500 witnesses, 19 lawyers and 40 investigators. He issued no less than 2,800 subpoenas.

Nor should it be imagined the inquiry was without any result. Almost 200 criminal charges have been laid against 37 individuals, including 25 Russians, a dozen of them suspected of hacking. They include six Trump associates, variously accused of bribery, fraud and false testimony

It is clear Mueller lifted the lid on a fetid can of worms containing some details of the Trump election campaign. But the stink, though unattractive, is not toxic for the president who has been hailing the result as a boost to his reelection chances in 2020. He also chose to characterize the report as a successful rerun of his 2016 victory. It is obvious what he meant by this; once the American liberal establishment had overcome its disbelief that the boorish Trump had actually gained the Republican presidential nomination, it threw every possible accusation at the man. Yet he still won the White House.

However, the Mueller findings will not be the end of the matter. The now Democrat-controlled House is determined to press ahead with its own investigations, not simply into a Russian connection, but into virtually everything Trump. Everything this controversial president has ever done will be questioned. Anti-Trump outpourings are now very similar to racist bigotry. The man can do nothing right, because of who he is. They hate his orange skin, his unusual blond hair and his odd nasal way of speaking. Their loathing actually resembles neo-fascists incensed by foreigners with brown or black skins.

Proof of the full extent of the dementia gripping the liberal establishment is that they threw their latest barrel of bile at the president on the eve of his expected Golan recognition announcement. Despite consistent support from the US Zionist community, no Democrat party administration has dared to recognize Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, let alone flout international law by accepting the Zionist annexation of Syrian territory.

If House speaker Nancy Pelosi and the rising number of rivals for the Democrat presidential nomination wanted to put clear blue water between themselves and Trump, they would focus not just on his alleged campaign illegalities but also the clear legal outrage of giving US endorsement to the theft of a sovereign country’s territory. Unfortunately, the American establishment’s visceral hatred of this duly elected president has completed warped its judgment. Worse, from its point of view, the more venomous its attacks on Trump, the more he seems to flourish. Currently, a second term for this mold-breaking president seems entirely possible.


March 26, 2019
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