Robert Mueller just played Donald Trump like a fiddle
Months ago, I suggested that when it came to the Russia scandal and investigation, Donald Trump was the proverbial frog in the pot of boiling water. The story goes that if you increase the temperature slowly enough, the frog will never catch on, and it’ll sit there in the pot until it boils. Investigators have managed to convince Trump to stay in that boiling pot even as they’ve arrested his people and moved in on him. Now they’ve managed to fool him yet again.
Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted thirteen Russians for conspiring to rig the election in Trump’s favor. Everyone of sound mind and body understands that this a profoundly troubling development for Trump. It’s a prelude to inevitable arrests of Americans, including members of Trump’s campaign and Trump’s family, for conspiring with Russia to rig the election. But then Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein held a press conference and spelled out that this particular indictment didn’t include any evidence that these specific Russians had any success in altering the outcome of the election.
That line was specifically aimed at keeping Trump calm, so that he wouldn’t panic and jump out of the boiling pot of water. Sure enough, Trump hasn’t tried to fire anyone or sabotage the investigation since the indictment was announced. Instead, he’s gloating on Twitter about how Rosenstein supposedly exonerated him in the Russia scandal, and how this supposedly proves that Russia had no impact on the outcome of the election.
Of course Rosenstein merely said that this indictment didn’t contain evidence that these Russians succeeded in changing the outcome of the election. In other words, that’s coming later, either in future indictments against other Russians, or in superseding indictments against these same Russians. Mueller and Rosenstein managed to not only make the most significant and damaging move in the Trump-Russia investigation to date, they managed to trick Trump into thinking it was a victory for him so he wouldn’t try to retaliate. That means they’re free to continue dismantling him, which they will.
