There was a hope with many that the Mueller report would be the knock-out punch to a corrupt administration. There was a feeling that the straight shooting former FBI director had his sights set on a narrative so powerful that it would sweep away much of the President’s vestiges of power and support.
We do not know what’s in the report, but already I can feel a sense of deflation and worry among some. I offer the following words born from whatever wisdom, if any, a lifetime of experience has provided.
First of all, we do not know what will eventually come out. And Mueller’s task was to get at the truth. We can’t be afraid of the truth no matter where it leads even if others do not play by the same rules. We cannot debase our values when it comes to the rule of law.
Second, let us not forget all that we have already learned. If the multiple indictments, the lies, the collusion in plain view had come out in one swift dam burst instead of the drips of an open tap, we would be rightfully stunned.
Third, this is just one of many investigations. With the House of Representatives in Democratic hands, there are many more lines of inquiry to reel in.
Fourth, in judging this administration, the probe into Russian meddling in the election is but one criteria. Just today, the president used a tweet to override his own Treasury Department’s sanctions on North Korea. And that’s just today.
I have found in politics that there are rarely clean judgements. We may see one here – in either direction of exoneration or incrimination. But more likely, we will get a murky picture and the tides will shift, like an ocean ebbing and flowing. We will learn something from Mueller, maybe much more than we realize. But it will still be up to us to determine what to do with that knowledge. And all the other knowledge we have already accumulated.