Here's What Mueller's Report Won't Do

(By American Zen's Mike Flannigan, on loan from Ari)

After 22 months of anticipation, mystique and speculation, Robert Mueller's report began to take on the dimensions of the Holy Grail- 

     Precious to those on both sides of the Great Ideological Divide but worrisomely elusive. It's like Frodo finally getting the ring to its rightful destination or the Red Sox bringing home its first World Series trophy in 86 years. Those on the left and right have been snatching at non-existent crumbs of speculation disguised masterfully as information. The left has been clinging to the hope that the fat bastard will finally fall while the right have been just as desperately clinging to the threadbare straw that neither Daddy Warbucks or his spawn have been indicted on collusion with the Russians... yet. And even if they are, well, it's fake news and Mueller had a vendetta, an agenda.

     The only thing that remains to be seen is what's actually in the fucking report. And, with right wing operative Bill Barr in sole possession of it, it's debatable that he'll even release the findings to Congress let alone the American public that had invested over $25,000,000 in it.

     But here's what it won't do:

     Regardless of the findings or lack thereof, it won't rid us of the political and spiritual rot that has more deeply infested this once-great nation. Hell, it won't even act as a spiritual deodorant. The corruption that currently infests Washington DC had its seeds laid at the same time as Jefferson's cherry trees and the foundations of the White House.

     It will not rid us of racism or the putrid neo Nazi nationalism that has wound its tentacles around this nation at a time when we thought we'd harpooned it forever. Counties that had held Trump rallies in 2016 saw a 226% increase in hate crimes. In other words, the dirt was already there. Trump was just the hate farmer who was savvy enough to cultivate something out of it.

     It will not prevent the Russians from meddling in the 2020 elections where they will once again bust a nut to keep their stooge Trump in office for another four years... if he survives until 2020. That's up to elections officials all over the country, our intelligence community and lawmakers on the Hill to prevent. As it is, just a month ago Trump's own people had issued dire warnings to the Senate Intelligence Committee that the Russians were planning to do just that.

     Mueller's absence of further indictments does not guarantee the Trumps will skate away into the palmy sunset of Mar-a-Lago. Collusion with the Russians during the 2016 campaign may have been the main focus but it was certainly not the probe's sole focus. Between Mueller's nearly two year-long investigation, that of the Southern District of New York and the United States Congress itself, other things have been investigated:

     Along with direct collusion with the Russians, there were also accounting irregularities in Trump's Inaugural Committee, larceny within the Trump Foundation, a part of which Trump's three oldest children have been legally barred as well as from all other New York state charities. There were violations of the Emoluments clause that had to be investigated. They looked into Trump committing campaign finance violations by directing his attorney to make hush money payments. There was tax evasion, the particulars of Trump's strange relationship with Deutsche Bank, obstruction of justice, money laundering. I'm sure there was more.

     And, lack of further indictments or no, several facts remain clear- Six Trump insiders, including his own campaign chairman and personal lawyer, have been sentenced to prison time. 37 indictments, over a dozen of which concerned Russian nationals tied to the GRU, were handed down. Plea deals had been struck by many, including Michael Flynn, Michael Cohen and, until he completely butt-fucked it into oblivion with his arrogance and stupidity, Paul Manafort. Immunity had been granted, starting with Allen Weisselberg, the CFO of the Trump Organization, someone who, if not the bodies, knows where the double ledgers are buried.

     Along with Roger Stone's home and Michael Cohen's home, office and hotel room, Deutsche Bank's offices were raided last November and its records seized.

     Six men in prison, not including a Russian spy named Maria Butina, homes and offices raided, immunity given to insiders in exchange for testimony and over three dozen indictments. And that's just what we saw on the outside looking in on these revelations bursting from the otherwise hermetic Mueller probe.

     And it's getting more and more impossible to believe that Trump surrounded himself with secret agents and spies, secret foreign lobbyists, porn stars, Russian gangsters and some of the worst scum crawling across the planet earth without him knowing what they were doing on his behalf. 

     And, at press time, even though the report was submitted to Bill Barr nearly 24 hours ago, Trump hasn't tweeted once, about anything, all day. Even he knows better. Either that or someone threw his unsecured Blackberry into Mar-a-Lago's sinkhole. If the report was that exculpatory, you'd think Trump and his spawn would be doing their 12th victory lap by now.

     But Robert Mueller's report won't open a Pandora's Box of vengeful legal warrior angels tasked with afflicting the man posing as the president or his family, it will not restore the earth onto its proper axis. Mueller's job was simply to investigate any potential wrongdoing between Trump's campaign, transition and administration and the Russians. His job was not to hand down grand jury indictments. The 37 indictments that were issued were incidental.

     And throughout it all, Trump has been acting the way a guilty man could be expected to act.

     And lastly, regardless of how damning or exculpatory the final report proves to be for Trump, it will not rid us of the toxic, racist menace that had been inflamed by him and with which we'll have to deal long after he's gone one way or the other. Robert Mueller was not a superhero. America still hasn't gotten the hero it deserves. All we in the reality-based community know is that that hero ain't Donald Trump.