Monday, December 03, 2018

A GLIMPSE OF THE FUTURE

Headlines right now, courtesy of Memeorandum:
* Axios: "Mueller's Breadcrumbs Suggest He Has the Goods"

* Former federal prosecutor Peter Zeidenberg at USA Today: "Mueller Is Building a Conspiracy Case That's Likely to Ensnare Trump and His Family"
And on the other side:
* RealClearInvestigations: "For Trump, Cohen Plea Deal's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Exoneration"

* Mollie Hemingway at the Federalist: "NeverTrump Clings To Russia Collusion Conspiracy Theory Despite Lack Of Evidence"
That's where we are now with regard to the Russia investigation: One group of observers thinks it's increasingly likely that the president and those closest to him are in serious trouble, while the other side looks at exactly the same evidence and concludes that Trump is on the verge of being fully exonerated.

I anticipate that we'll soon have clarity about what Trump and his circle did in the 2016 campaign -- but we won't have universal agreement on anything. What happens then? Charles Blow asks:
How would Americans who support Trump now respond to evidence that Team Trump put their own personal and financial interests over the national interest? Would they break from their blind support and turn away from him and turn on him? How could they justify wearing the blinders for so long and countenancing so much? What language would they use to correct their complicity?
But as he says, Trump himself will never acknowledge the truth:
I expect Trump to admit nothing, even if faced with proof positive of his own misconduct. There is nothing in the record to convince me otherwise. He will call the truth a lie and vice versa.
So why would the reactions of his followers be any different?

A year or two ago, we might have imagined that by now we'd be inching toward a consensus on what the Trump-Russia facts are. The two sides might still be at odds politically, but we'd be starting to agree on what happened.

But we aren't agreeing, and I don't think we ever will.

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