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This horrifying scene took place across the street from where Pete Buttigieg was appearing at a neighborhood campaign stop. Because Pete Buttigieg is gay, and married, and is a man of faith, he receives a lot of crazed hate from "conservative Christians". And what better way to depict this animus than the Holy Week street theatre depiction of the Devil cackling as Mayor Pete brutalizes Jesus.
From this point on, The Daily Kibitz endorses Pete Buttigieg for President. This shit has got to stop.
As we await Thursday's heavily-redacted release of the Barr version of the Mueller investigation, let's take a moment to review some of the highly ridiculous moments from the last week or so...
First, just to get it out of the way, there is the upcoming Barr Report. Wags in DC are betting on how much will be redacted - 5%? 10%? 25%? The Attorney General (R- Roy Cohn) is now the president's fixer and smear artist. These are Cohn skill sets that Trump had been seeking since Jeff Sessions recused himself early in 2017. T wants a protector, a consigliere to keep him out of trouble. Barr, a veteran of previous GOP coverups and quid pro quo pardons (hello, "Bank of Fear" and Iran-Contra perpetrators; hi there, Saddam Hussein money pipeline), is that guy. Plus, he is fine with throwing the FBI under the bus for his boss by claiming they were "spying" on Trump's campaign. He knows what makes his boss happy.
And considering that AG Barr has already stated that his report would redact anyone who hasn't been charged because of a concern about damaging any reputations, well... I'd say the degree of redactions should be around 75%.
For more on our the Attorney General and his upcoming dump, take a couple of minutes to read Republican strategist Rick Wilson's short but masterful take on Barr, "The Most Dangerous Man In America":
Hoo boy. Barr knows how "to throw up chaff to confuse the results of the Mueller report that may somehow see the light of day." Yes, this guy is a real danger, a weaponized tool for the administration's march towards Autocracy. But we can still laugh about it, right? Check out The Onion's expose on how Barr intends to portray the Mueller investigation via "interpretive dance" and "abstract visuals".
"Frank and Joe Hardy were troubled as Nancy recounted Principal Barr's reaction. 'Maybe we can issue a sternly worded letter,' Frank suggested unhelpfully. Joe floated the idea of a national strike." Funny stuff.
Speaking of funny stuff, what about Wikileaks' Julian Assange? Or is it really retired talk show host David Letterman who is in custody?
The far left and far right's favorite Russian cut-out was finally ousted from his Ecuadorian embassy digs. He had been warned many times about cleaning his bathroom and changing his cat's kitty litter box. Honest. And then he started smearing poo on his apartment walls.
Once again, The Onion is on the case. Their London correspondents have spotted a "new apartment' advert on several local flat-sharing websites:
Adding on to the Assange jollity is one of our favorites, Molly Jong-Fast. She ponders how in the Harry Potter series, it was Harry who had lived for years tucked in a cupboard beneath the stairs. In this version, it is Dumbledore. And he's a Russian cut-out:
Her followers' comments are good. "You're an asset, Harry." "I have one of those dudes on my front lawn, but he's a little smaller and wears a funny hat." "Thank the lord these pics aren't scratch and sniff." "What did they do with his razor?"
Elsewhere, there was the curious moment when the Trumps and the Macrons visited Mt. Vernon for a dinner there. Yes, this is truly bizarre:
It really is difficult to believe that a president lacks the fundamental knowledge about his predecessors, from first to last. His awareness of our first President seems severely restricted. Staff there said the Macrons seemed more informed than the Trumps. He asked if Washington were "really rich" and became much more interested when he was told that GW had been very rich.
But while walking through the mansion, T began to compile critiques. Rooms were too small. Stairways were too narrow. There were some uneven spots on the floor. "I could have built the place better, for less money." And something else -- why was the place named Mt. Vernon?
“If he was smart, he would’ve put his name on it,” Trump said, according to three sources briefed on the exchange. “You’ve got to put your name on stuff or no one remembers you.”
Yes, no one remembers George Washington. Meanwhile, in New York City, the last of six "Trump Place" buildings removed his name from its edifice. Oh, Ozymandias!
And as the days continue, the daily count for Lies and Disinformation continues to accumulate. Daniel Dale of the Toronto Star has been keeping a nifty ledger that is easy to follow. Check it out:
As of last week, it was up to 4857 false claims. The Washington Post has also been tracking the falsehoods. Their count is higher, because they include "misleading" claims. The figure is at 9,451 instances as of April 1. That's a lot of BS.
There were a lot of other highly ridiculous items that crossed the news wire over the last several days. One that stuck out was a quote from Stephen Moore, the "economist" who Trump wants to put onto the Federal Reserve Board (thankfully, Herman Cain has been pulled from further consideration). Moore, someone who loves simple answers for complicated problems, said "Capitalism is a lot more important than Democracy." This statement had to warm the heart of our autocratic president.
Yes, highly ridiculous. But before ending things, let's take a quick stroll through a Really Unsettling Thread by David Rothkopf. There are no laughs here. And I have to agree with him on just about all the counts he makes in this quick read:
Wowzers. "The President and his men began asserting that they were above the law - and effectively no one in our system did anything about it." That about sums things up. It is really a remarkable summation of the last week's events.
Finally, to end on a bright note, let's behold the glory of The Badpiper! It's a clip from his street performance somewhere in Scotland. His grand finale, blasting flames from his bagpipes, is AC/DC's "Thunderstruck", a tune long-time White Sox fans will recognize as the pre-game intro music to their pathetic team's exercise in futility.
Thank you, Banksy, for this marvelous artistic summation of the day. As the United Kingdom prepares to self-destruct, let's look in for a deft analysis of how the Brit government is preparing for Brexit:
Oh dear! Did he really say, "Fuck knows. I'm past caring. It's like the living dead in here"?? Why yes, that is what the cabinet minister was quoted as saying. And that's why the BBC is the BBC!
It really is hard to believe that Theresa May is still Prime Minister. But then, who else would take her place that would be any better? Folks have been waiting for her to resign since the day she became PM. There was this fantastic moment from a couple of years ago:
Pranks hardly get better than this. May is up at the podium, delivering a painful "mea culpa" to her party for having led a simply disastrous election campaign. Suddenly someone appears next to her, handing important looking papers to her. She stops and accepts them. They are government standard resignation papers. Then the scamp turns and loudly proclaims that he was sent on the mission by Boris Johnson, May's cabinet ally/worst enemy. Oh, that is so good. But it gets better. Ya gotta watch the video...
Somehow, May has persevered, probably because no one else wants the job. Yesterday, with Brexit about to happen, she challenged Parliament to vote ONE MORE TIME for the same deal it had voted down in thunderous fashion twice before. Except this time, May said she'd "fall on her sword" and resign if they voted for the deal. Wags quickly pointed out that if she tried to fall on her sword, she'd miss it. Some say she'd resign when everyone's at the pub and no one would even know it.
They didn't, again, once more. What happens now with Brexit is anyone's guess. What is indisputable is that nothing good will come of it. Estimates for the economic impact of a "no-deal Brexit" indicate a near 10% decline in the economy is to be expected:
Yes, a 10% dip is called a "severe recession" or economic depression. So tough luck, Brits. You brought it on yourselves. Or did you? There's a strong sense of deja vu all over again.
Speaking of Russians, Attorney General Barr's Summary of the Mueller Investigation made big waves last weekend. It shocked many people because it asserted that everything was coming to an immediate STOP. Including the many threads of investigation and people already charged and others who are pending and, well you get the picture. The Trump World went ecstatic, triumphantly proclaiming "Total Exoneration!" Except, well, it isn't. In fact, things are just getting warmed up. Today, Barr delivered a summary of his summary and it seemed like a walk-back, as well as an expansion of what will be allowed to be reported. This is going to be a long and drawn out stonewalling process. Maybe all summer! Maybe longer!
The truly odd Barr summaries have given rise to a fun hashtag movement: #billbarrletters. People submit severely truncated summaries of popular works. These are funny, you will laugh:
And there is this: Were Bill Barr and Steve Bannon separated at birth? You decide:
Also creating fun is Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah). The other day he decided to tackle the topic of Climate Change on the Senate floor. Using a variety of pop culture images to mock the Green New Deal proposal, he impressed colleagues by concluding that Climate Change can be solved by "falling in love, getting married and having lots of babies." It should be said that Mike Lee is considered one of the brightest lights in the GOP.
This follows the same line of enlightened thought expressed by the new head of the Presidential Committee on Climate Security, William Happer. He asserts that Earth is experiencing a carbon dioxide famine:
Because plants use carbon dioxide to live, Happer has said "more CO2 is actually a benefit to the Earth," asserted that Earth is experiencing a "CO2 famine," and concluded that "If plants could vote, they would vote for coal."
Good thing plants can't vote, though I know of a few voters who are real potato-heads. You know who else can't? The Creature From The Black Lagoon. But it can still show up at a Congressional confirmation hearing for Trump Secretary of Interior nominee David Bernhardt. He's replacing disgraced ex-Secretary Ryan Zinke, one of several Trump cabinet members who have spiraled out of control and is facing possible prosecution.
Actually, the Creature would make a much better Secretary of the Interior than Bernhardt, whose background is that of a lobbyist for Oil and Gas companies.
Finally, we can't pass up another Russian reference. When Trump and Company brayed "No Collusion! Total Exoneration!" over and over, it caused some real puzzlement over in Moscow. "Who the hell was I working with then?" asks Russian President:
"What the hell? I worked so hard on this... if I wasn't colluding with the Trump campaign, who the hell was I colluding with?" Once again, The Onion wins.
Which leaves us with our final image, that of the new gigantic awful terrible human caravan poised to lay waste to our nation, as Fox News warns us. Here it is:
Yes, yes, yes. Here at the Daily Kibitz, we felt the need to lighten up a little. So let's take a break from the glum and accentuate the positive! To help us get happy, we'll look at what's happening with Devin Nunes, some otterly amazing news, nifty archeological finds, Jared Kushner getting locked out of a building, and more fun! Let's go!
Devin Nunes, of course, is a ridiculous congress critter from California. He owns a dairy farm there. And a winery backed with Russian financing. He was the House Intelligence Committee Chair (irony alert). He is an awful person. He is also the long-time object of widespread ridicule, and has been compared unfavorably to Inspector Clouseau. This week, Nunes entered a $250 million dollar defamation lawsuit against Twitter and the parody accounts of Devin Nunes' Cow and Devin Nunes' Mom. For your pleasure:
The Devin Nunes' Cow twitter account had 1200 followers when the lawsuit broke. Four days later, it has exceeded 600,000 followers, much more than Nunes' own account. It's the Streisand effect! His frivolous lawsuit turned a welcoming spotlight on these fun accounts. And the lawsuit will no doubt be dismissed at first contact with a court. (Another Irony Alert: in 2018, Nunes co-sponsored a bill called "Discouraging Frivolous Lawsuits Act.")
But in the meantime, we can laugh! People are sending cowbells to his office! Dozens of new Twitter accounts are sprouting up with names like:
Devin Nunes' Bull. Devin Nunes' Cow's Lawyer. Devin Nunes' Bull. Devin Nunes' Shoe. Devin Nunes' Baby Tears. Devin Nunes' 3rd Cousin. Devin Nunes' Diaper Rash. Devin Nunes' Cow's Mom. Devin Nunes' Safe Space. Devin Nunes Wears Velcro Shoes. Devin Nunes' Sister's Parakeets. Devin Nunes' Inner Child. Devin Nunes' Alt-Mom. Devin Nunes' Fungal Infection. Devin Nunes Is A Whiny Baby. Devin Nunes' Booger Under His Desk. Devin Nunes' Pimp Slapper. Devin Nunes' Mom's Hairdresser. Devin Nunes' Dirty Cow. I'm Devin Nunes' Cow Too. How Now Nunes' Cow. Devins' Retired Cow. Devin "I'm Having A Cow" Nunes. Devin Nunes' Cock. Devin Nunes' Taint. Devin Nunes' Sister By Another Mother. Devin Nunes' Streisand Effect. Devin Nunes' Ulterior Motive. And many, many more.
Devin's thin skin is showing, and everyone is having a good time with it. Oh, in other Twitter news, don't forget our friend, Turnip, who is running for president in 2020. Although a vegetable, Turnip is already looking at Beto O'Rourke as a running mate for a Turnip/Beeto ticket:
"And a KellyAnne Conway who was whispering 'Hush'." Well, that would keep the kid up all night! In other amusing Trump-related creations, a few commenters over at Wonkette came upon an idea to establish a Trump Greeting Cards line: "When you care enough to send the very worst." Some samples:
"Congratulations on the birth of your beautiful baby girl... Here's my number, she'll want it later."
"Dear Son, on this, your birthday... What the fuck are you doing reading? You useless piece of shit."
"In your time of mourning... I'd just like to say... Fuck you, I win."
World Happiness Day happened this week: On the recently released list of Happiest Nations In The Whole World, Finland came in at #1 and the US fell to #19 - our worst showing ever (see our Daily Kibitz story from December for our take on Scandanavia vs. USA!). Jeez, we as a nation need to look at the bright side of life. As the Partridge Family once sang, "C'mon get happy!"
One way we can rise above our gloom is to obsess over this udderly fantastic crazy dance video thread. It's taken from an early 1960's TV show. Someone came up with the idea of lining up favorite modern songs and having the dancers "perform" to them. It's wildly addictive:
Oh, man!! That should bring our national Happiness ranking up at least a couple of notches. My favorite is Rob Zombie, with many others vying for the top spot. Be sure to follow through all of Parker Molloy's choices and then go all the way deep with the comments/other song contributions that follow. They absolutely rule!!
Speaking of wildly addictive, check out the chuckle-worthy and kinda terrifying #floridamanchallenge. It compiles the most recent news stories that feature Florida men behaving badly:
Yes, these people are Americans. Part of the affliction that has infected our under-mirthed nation is Lack Of Education. Our friends at The Onion feature an article that connects Book Learnin' with Back Talk. Let's all keep this in mind:
Oh, Onion... In fact, they have an exclusive report about some Lost Socrates Dialogues being discovered in an archeological dig. Its contents may surprise you:
I suppose Socrates could have succeeded today as a cable news host.
Laugh or else: Real-life news indicating that private emails continue to be used for government business by senior Trump officials! Ex-Deputy National Security Advisor K.T. McFarlane was using her AOL account to conduct highly sensitive interactions with Saudi Arabia regarding the building of nuclear facilities there. Steve Bannon used a personal private email server. Ivanka Trump uses a private, personal server. And the boy wonder, Jared Kushner, he who is responsible for managing most administrative initiatives, conducts his business on What's App!! This is really Top Secret Highest Level Security Practices that will remind no Trump supporter of Hillary Clinton.
Yes, Kushner and the rest of the Trump Administration are much worse than the severely dysfunctional characters from the TV series, "VEEP". Here's boy-wonder Jared as he walks to the office door of the U.S. Trade Representative. It's right down the street from the White House. Someone locked the door, much to the glee of reporters there. Someone had the genius to portray the moment as a VEEP closing credits scene:
Also, to make you feel especially good: Rock's Godmother, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, belting out "Didn't It Rain, Children" outside a wet Manchester, England railway station in 1964. She performed on the same bill as Muddy Waters, Otis Spann, Rev. Gary Davis, and Sonny Terry & Brownie McGhee. Wow.
It's been said that Trump is a car hood ornament. A big, flashy, garish hood ornament that now represents the GOP. He is its symbol. And when he speaks, the engine below him roars. He directs and the vehicle moves. So... what's under the hood? How is this engine constructed? Why has there been no change in the design of this vehicle since the 2016 version?
A simple answer is the engine is powered by "the 35%." These are the implacable and immovable supporters of the President. His base. No matter what he does or says, his support doesn't dip below this approval percentage level. And while this doesn't translate into good governance, it is an impressive phenomenon. And it is enough for him to be re-nominated and keep GOP politicians in line, no matter what happens.
So despite the car always pulling towards the shoulder, the shocks and suspension failing, and the wheels going all wobbly, there are no plans for a design overhaul. We know this because of the annual GOP Auto Show, also known as the CPAC.
The CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference) is very much like a Car Show. It's where GOP politicians, operatives and activists gather every year to kick the tires of this year's model. It used to be the centerpiece showcase for mainstream Conservative thought. But over time, it has steered to the far right, pulling the GOP along with it. And over the last decade it has become a real freak show.
This is where Trump, Pence, the Cabinet, and other high-profile politicians appear for keynote speeches. Right wing media celebrities rile up the crowd. It's also where a world-class prank happened in 2017 (handheld Russian flags with "Trump" printed on them were distributed to the audience before his speech). This year there were no pranks. But weird stuff still happened. For example, when suggested by Pence that Trump's election had been divinely appointed, audience members stood and cheered, and some fell to their knees in praise of the Almighty.
For a deeply humorous look at the absurd shenanigans at this year's CPAC, here are a couple of quick pieces by Molly Jong-Fast. These were written for the conservative magazine, The Bulwark. They are both 2-minute reads. She is not conservative and she is great:
Jeez, she is fun. By the way, her take on Oliver North is SPOT-ON. Now, if her observations make you wonder what the mainstream media thought of it all, here's the Washington Post's chief political reporter, Robert Costa:
Yep, attendees like the 2016 - 2019 GOP model just fine. They especially appreciate the slight modification made that enhances the "Democrats are Radical Socialists who Kill Babies and Capitalism and Hate the USA and Jesus and Want MS-13 and AOC to Usurp Dear Leader" featured line of stable reasoning.
Let's get a little closer to the engine and have a look-see. The 35%, the Always Trumpers, are primarily GOP voters. As Henry Olson points out in his recent Washington Post article, over 80% of the GOP approve of Trump. This bumps to 93% of those who voted for him in 2016.
Olson makes some good points. The Four Pillars of the pre-Trump Republican party had been fiscal conservatives, social conservatives, business conservatives and moderates. Trump added a fifth column - the nationalist conservatives. It made the difference in the 2016 election.
But in 2018 midterms, he lost the moderate pillar. They are gone, prolly for good. And many fiscal conservatives sat it out, for the foolish Tax Cut and spending resolutions. This sounds kinda fatal, but they weren't much of a faction in today's GOP. But it was enough to lose the House in the largest turnover of Republican seats since Watergate.
So... why the determined allegiance to Crazy? Agreeing with debatable but legitimate policy goals are one thing (more conservative judges, an end to abortion, deregulation of environmental rules, etc.) but what about the toxic shit that imbues this administration? What about the constant lies? What about the bigotry and misogyny? What about the slide towards authoritarianism? Why accept his incurious mind and ditto-ism of Fox News opinion? What about this Kakistocracy? What about the ongoing grift? What about the gawdawful seditious relationship with Russia? Why the abandonment of bedrock Republican principles like Small Government, Personal Responsibility and Fiscal Conservatism? Why are so many willing to exalt this slimy guy as The Chosen One of God?
To believe Olson, Republicans are happy enough with new judges, millionaire tax cuts and deregulation of environmental rules to overlook the Big Mess. But at times, it seems like much of our country and fellow citizens have been seized by some kind of wild psychospiritual disease, "a parasite of the mind". It's like a contagion of the mind-soul, leading to a type of low-level and long-lasting mass hysteria. Like the fall of the Roman Empire, when its citizens too long drank from lead-laced water sources and gradually went off the rails.
Well, as Ronald Reagan once said, there are no easy answers but there are simple answers.
One major source of polluted political well waters is Fox News/Hate Radio. It's no accident that the rise of the far right can be traced to 1987. That's when the Fairness Doctrine was repealed, negating the news and opinion broadcast requirement to present "both sides". Radio host Rush Limbaugh saw this opportunity to give 100% voice to his jaundiced and stilted opinions. AM radio stations across the nation picked up his show. It was cheap for them and filled time. And rural stations strapped for money and content loved it. So did their listeners. AM radio remains the preferred (sometimes only) mode in rural America.
Likewise, Fox News rose under these conditions. When Cable/Satellite providers were making their plays in the late 1990s, the role of providing access to rural areas was problematic. It was not especially profitable for news channels like CNN and MSNBC to get onto these rural packages. Sometimes they chose not to participate at all. The emerging Fox News broke through by offering rural cable/satellite providers a nice "per subscriber" payout that the others had not. Suddenly, Fox News was being carried everywhere!! They won the Market Share war and haven't looked back.
For more on how Fox News has affected political mindsets, check out this fine piece by Dylan Matthews at Vox:
For a wider and more chilling look at how Fox News became the Propaganda Wing of the GOP, dive deeply into Jane Mayer's new article from the New Yorker that's been causing much excitement:
TL;DR The result is a political party whose supporters resemble a Comments section from a Breitbart article about Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
"Crossing The Swamp" George Washington would plotz!
It all leads to a wacky and warped lens on reality. Watch as a Trump rally attendee matter-of-factly suggests that the October pipe bombs that were sent to various Democrats were sent by these same Democrats:
OK, that is a special kind of indoctrinated dumb. Now let's get onto the next Simple Answer: Education!
One party is becoming more educated, while the other is actively working to disengage from higher education. One seeks to have College For All. The other is deeply suspicious of book-learnin'. This chart says it all:
This is an embarrassment. It should be read as a rout for Republicans. But it won't. To help explain why, here is a very fine piece from The Atlantic that delves into the big differences between parties regarding their appreciation of higher education:
Yep. The highly-educated Republicans are leaving the party. They are the moderate "Never Trumpers". They may not become Democrats, but they aren't going back to the fold. Higher Education is becoming perceived by Republicans as Elitist and Liberal and Anti-American. It is accused of preventing conservative thought from being expressed. Meanwhile, public university budgets continue to be chopped while private for-profit and religious schools are being promoted.
This confluence of Education and Propaganda factors reminds me of "The Wave", a fictionalized account of a true story. Recently, the writer Larissa Alexandrovna tweeted about the ease of getting people to follow a person or movement that turns out to be Fascist in nature. Here is her thread:
And here is a trailer for the documentary of that real-life experiment, "Lesson Plan":
Yes, it is a chilling thing to consider. Another similar work from the 1930's, "It Can't Happen Here" by Sinclair Lewis, seemed like a fantasy restricted to the Huey Long era of U.S. history. It couldn't happen now, right? Right?
Strip away the bigoted resentment of many GOPers for the economic gains made by immigrants and POC, and you're left with something John Lennon would recognize. Millions of citizens struggle to just to get by on pennies and promises while they watch "the Elite" carry on without them. It ticked him off mightily, too. Here's the most powerful song ever written, "Working Man's Hero" as performed, lovingly, by Green Day. That last line, man... every damn time I hear it I get all verklempt when he's brought in. Yes, I'm a big softie. And I believe JL would have approved of this version with enthusiasm. A classic.
Is it the beginning of the end, the end of the beginning, or the reveal of a big ol' Nothingburger? The DC parlor game of speculating about the Mueller investigation has ramped up into smokin' overdrive. Deputy Attorney General and Special Counsel Office DOJ supervisor Rod Rosenstein has announced he will leave office in mid-March. The Department of Justice has a new Senate-confirmed Attorney General, William Barr. Credible sources indicate that the DOJ expects Robert Mueller to submit his final report to Barr as early as next week. And no one knows what is going to happen.
Careful readers of The Daily Kibitz know this: I fully expect Trump, most of his family and his business organization to spectacularly crash into smithereens. I strongly suspect that a significant portion of the Republican party organization will be tarred (and some Democrats). There will be other businesses adversely affected, including financial institutions, media outfits and software companies. When it's all over, US citizens will look back and disbelieve that things could have ever gone so wrong.
The main questions are how, and when? How will the enormous scope of investigations that are underway be completed if Mueller is wrapping it up? And when will justice be served?
First, let's step back a bit. The Mueller Investigation is just that. It is an investigation; it was never designed to be a endgame prosecutorial entity, although it has racked up a number of successful court wins. It is my sense that Mueller's Special Counsel team has reached an inflection point. Mueller & Co. are the best in the business. They know what happened. They have plenty of evidence on lots of things. They know they need more evidence to convict some cases (Paul Manafort and Roger Stone's obstructing lies and refusal to turn state's evidence is crucial here).
A good DA knows that you don't go to court unless you have an 80/85% chance of conviction. And Mueller is politically and legally astute enough to know what he can charge successfully, right now. If he waits much longer to get more evidence, he runs the risk of becoming ensnared in the 2020 political calendar - any and all evidentiary submissions by him after June will be increasingly read with ever-partisan perspectives.
Plus, much of what is being investigated is not necessarily criminal in nature, but is Counter Intelligence-based. Criminal charges may eventually result with CI investigations, but they are tricky.
So, I'm guessing Mueller is going with what he has got right now. But that doesn't mean this is the end of what he's been investigating...
No, sir. Mueller is submitting his report and it will be All Business, reasonably short and to the point (as opposed to that nearly 500 page Starr Report against Bill Clinton's lie about the blowjobs). He will indicate who should be charged and why. He will also indicate why others won't be charged -- and he won't be compelled to offer their names.
But what he has been arranging over the past few months will reveal most of what's left undone. Mueller has been handing off cases left and right to other prosecutorial offices. Anything that isn't Trump Campaign Conspiracy with Russia and Obstruction of Justice to conceal it is in the hands of separate FBI investigations, Eastern District and Southern District New York Federal Prosecutors, Eastern District of Virginia Federal Prosecutors, the District of Columbia Federal Prosecutors, the U.S. Solicitor General, and the New York State Attorney's Office (and prolly other states, too).
Everything that is not closely connected to his original mandate, but has been uncovered in his investigation, has been/will be farmed out. The Mystery Appellant foreign bank which holds Jared Kushner's fate. The various Middle East states that have their sticks in this mud. The array of Quid Pro Quo/Pay to Play agreements to assist and enrich The Trump Organization, Jared Kushner's 666 5th Avenue property, the Trump Inaugural and more. The role of interactions with Bank of Cyprus, Deutsch Bank, Alfa Bank, Rosneft and other financial organizations with Russian Mob (and non-Russian mob) ties. Exposing Russia as the crime state that it is (see Bill Browder and the Magnitsky Act). Demonstrating the staggering amount of international money-laundering (apart from the Trump Organization's complicity) and how it affects the world economy and governance. And much much more.
In essence, Mueller is outsourcing his investigation to plenty of new investigator/prosecutors who do not have the same political lightning rod problem that he has. He will explode his own atom bomb of a report, and it in turn will create the detonation process required of a judiciary hydrogen bomb, fused by these other entities.
But all this will take time. "More?!!" you say? Yes, more. I'm guessing all this will string out over the next 3 - 4 years or so before the last sentence is handed down. Yep, that long. Maybe even longer for some cases, because of the high roller obfuscation methods and high stakes involved.
But this is the most important investigation in the history of our country. So many loose threads extend beyond its core that demand closure. One guy who understands this is Robert Mueller. Take a couple of minutes to read his famous "Iron Triangle" speech from 2011, given to the Citizens Crime Commission of New York. He was FBI Director at the time:
Yes. This is a guy who fully comprehends the significance of International Organized Crime, and how it manifests in the worlds of Finance and Nation-State Governance. He sees it as an existential threat to our country. And what he has been uncovering with this whole Trump/Russia fiasco leads directly to the very things he loathes the most.
Mueller may submit a report that does not satisfy everyone's quest for justice. But do not think that Mueller's own quest is done. I think we are at the end of Act 2.
Finally, let's all have a rich and well-deserved laugh at the end of rough week. Here is the hilarious Bad Lip Reading rendition of the latest State of the Union address. I think it's the best one yet (the rendition, not the actual SOTU). Watch and prepare for hilarity:
