In the beloved movie “The Princess Bride,” heroic Inigo Montoya says to babbling villain Vizzini, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.” A real-life villain, Donald Trump, is currently making the same mistake with the word, “exonerated.”
Vizzini is a comedic figure in the movie, but there’s nothing funny about Trump’s claim that the Mueller Report “exonerates” him. He’s illustrating his own ignorance. Thus far, we’ve only seen a memo from William Barr, Trump’s hand-picked attorney general. Barr’s memo is not the Mueller Report.
Barr makes the questionable claim that Trump did not commit obstruction of justice. The whole purpose of a special counsel is to lift the investigation above partisan politics, so Barr clearly has no business making judgments on the investigation’s results.
First, Barr is a Trump appointee. Second, Barr auditioned for his current job with a memo opining that Trump shouldn’t even be investigated for obstruction of justice. Third, Barr issued his decision two days after receiving the massive report, not nearly enough time for an open-minded assessment. Fourth, the branch of government constitutionally charged with presidential oversight is Congress, not Trump’s Justice Department.
The results of independent investigations into Richard Nixon and Bill Clinton went to Congress, not to these presidents’ appointees. Imagine if Nixon’s administration minimized the Watergate investigation as Barr is doing with the Mueller Report. Republicans fumed when Bill Clinton had a brief, impromptu encounter with Attorney General Loretta Lynch while Hillary Clinton was running for president. The Trump administration is doing far worse now.
Despite his obvious bias, Barr actually notes that the Mueller Report includes evidence of obstruction by Trump. Mueller’s report states that “while this report does not conclude that the President committed a crime, it also does not exonerate him.” That’s literally the opposite of Trump’s ridiculous claim of “exoneration.”
Barr also cherry-picks from Mueller to try to absolve Trump of Russian collusion by specifically quoting Mueller’s assessment of the Trump campaign’s connections with “the Russian government.” Barr doesn’t mention the many known contacts between Trump and Russians who may not be formally affiliated with the Russian government who operate under Putin’s direction. Not many people thought that Trump texted Putin, “THX! KUTGW!” Crime bosses supply the overall vision. Their underlings do the detailed dirty work.
There is clear evidence in the public record that Trump and his campaign worked with Russians during and after the campaign. Donald Trump Jr., Paul Manafort, and Jared Kushner met with a Russian they thought was a government official to try to get dirt on Hillary Clinton. Manafort offered to brief a Russian oligarch on the Trump campaign, and he sent campaign polling data to another Russian.
Trump publicly asked the Russians to hack Hillary Clinton’s emails, and they tried to do so hours later. George Papadopoulos tried to arrange meetings between Trump and Putin during the campaign, and Kushner tried to set up a secret communications channel between Trump and Putin after the election. Roger Stone communicated with Wikileaks about the materials Russia hacked.
Michael Flynn had secret communication with the Russian ambassador. And Trump himself had multiple secret business dealings with Russians dating back years and continuing through much of the presidential campaign.
And then Trump and his associates lied about all of these Russian connections during and after the campaign, both to the American people and, often, to the FBI. And no one from the Trump campaign reported the Russians to the FBI. None of this is anything close to the behavior Americans want from a president and his close associates.
The Barr memo also notes that Mueller confirms U.S. intelligence reports about Russian hacking and disinformation to attack our election. Trump has consistently denied Russia’s attack, probably to avoid the obvious truth that he would have lost the election without Russian help. This aspect of Mueller’s report is more evidence that Trump sides with Russia over America.
Trump has been colluding with Russia since he took office, from denying Putin’s attack on our election, to undermining sanctions against Russia, to carrying Putin’s water in opposing NATO. It’s not a stretch to think Trump also colluded during his campaign.
Overall, Trump’s presidency is what Vizzini would call “inconceivable.” Trump keeps forcing terrible policies on our country. He’s currently in the process of stealing funds from our troops to build his wasteful and ineffective border wall, and he’s attacking health care reform in ways that would strip insurance from millions of Americans and regress us to the days of rampant abuse by health insurance corporations.
As 2020 approaches, Democrats need a three-pronged approach to defeat Trump. First, obviously, fight the terrible Trump/Republican policies. Second, propose policies that help everyday Americans, as they’ve been doing with major initiatives such as election reforms and Obamacare fixes. And third, investigate the rampant corruption of Trump and his administration.
Trump’s insane “exoneration” claims may be pushing the current media narrative. But the long-term message is clear: Trump is a horrible president in every way. When the full Mueller Report becomes public and other investigations proceed, the truth about Trump’s high crimes and misdemeanors will be clear.
John Sheirer is an author and teacher who lives in Florence. His most recent book is, “Donald Trump’s Top Secret Concession Speech.” Find him at JohnSheirer.com.