The Muller report was a litmus test on how cognitive dissidence can be exploited for political purposes. Many people are still confused about its importance.
The confusion perdures to this day
The Muller Report is names after the Department of Justice (DOJ) Special Counsel Robert Muller, who was a prominent career law enforcement professional at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States of America. He was appointed to conduct a thorough investigation into possible Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. Presidential election.
Among the targets of the investigation, was included the recently elected U.S. President Donald J. Trump. The reason was because there were credible allegations that his campaign had close unduly communications with the Russian Federation, and that his campaign conspired together with Russian operatives to get an advantage against Trump’s presidential opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Russia stated on record they favored Trump over Clinton as President of the United States.
Before I move on, please find below the link to the entire Muller Report, as released to the public. Please keep in mind that some of the released Muller Report [enclosed] to the public have been redacted for reasons of National Security.
Mueller Report on the investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election
Mueller Report (link via CNN)
IMPORTANT NOTE: It is worth mentioning that when citing Russia in this report, and on this article, it is not referring to the entire country of Russia – nor it is a so called “Rusophobic” attack. But unfortunately, the people involved in this report were from Russia. Any country involved in a similar fashion would have been cited on a consistent basis if they were under the scope of the investigation Mueller conducted. It is worth noting also that most Russian people (like most people around the world) are actually super nice, and they might or might not have a say, knowledge, or condone what happens outside their immediate purview.
You are welcome to read the entire report now (all 400+ pages), or after you finish this article. We will be touching upon some of the important takeaways from the report. The report itself is written in legal jargon, hence for some people it might seem counterintuitive to understand what Muller is actually trying to say. That’s the nature of the beast, legal writing is very different than normal everyday vernacular.
For this article I will be using down-to Earth vernacular to ensure it is better understood. And I said, “better understood” – because in legal terms words and context have a much encompassing terminology. That is why it takes years of going to law school and passing a bar exam to navigate the vernacular. To put in context the bar exam alone takes about 12 hours and it is extremely grueling. Some of us (who are not attorneys, but) due to the nature of our jobs just so happen to be acquainted with that language to “read it” – but not to “write it” – if that makes sense. E.g. You might be able to distinguish the difference between a high-quality and low-quality steak when you eat it, it is a whole different ballgame cooking it.
If you do end up reading the full report (which I recommend), it is best if you read it in little chunks, and with an open mind. The report is obviously very well written, but for those unfamiliar with the lingo, it will be interpreted like “scripture” (as in a bible or religious text) – and create a misperception that it is subject to some interpretations – especially if a person has a particular bias. However, biases are not the case when writing the report – Mueller himself was a Republican. But it is possible that some people might find ambiguity. Remember, this report was not meant to be read by the people, but rather by legal experts.
This in no way is demeaning to the general public, it is just part of the area of expertise needed for that particular specialty. Just like a bartender might have some specific language they use for some of their mixology, or just like us Sailors have a very specific vernacular when we talk about Navy stuff, or just how mathematicians communicate with complex formulas. Somebody outside those specialties might find it confusing if seeing it from the outside in.
Same thing with the Muller Report. It has a specific language, crafted by experts in that field. Fortunately, just like any cryptic language out there, there is a key to understanding in everyday terms what the intent and purpose for that report means to the general audience. There is a reason why I put this in context. You will see what I mean by that as you continue reading this article.
The Muller Report is inheritably complex, because it addressed a very complex issue. Further, it was unprecedented because it was the first time a sitting U.S. President was involved in the middle of this type of controversy. And of course, the environmental factors (not as in weather) in the country, particularly on political divisiveness – was making an already incendiary issue all the more volatile. There were a lot of entities who had a lot to lose based on the findings of this report. And those who had a lot to lose were both inside and outside the United States of America.
What does this mean? The Muller Report was never just about Trump, it was a lot bigger than that. It was about the possibility that third nation was interfering with the American Electoral process, and potentially getting away with it. Trump was largely anecdotal but had to play also a center role for the investigation because he just so happened to be the President of these United States.
Understanding the Report’s Context
The Mueller report was not about finding “Collusion” – why? Because Collusion is not a crime. It was about finding conspiracy to undermine an American Electoral Process. However, as Trump became extremely combative, and largely [on the Right-Wing of politics], attacks against Muller started to percolate, the scope of the investigation had no choice but to add instances of obstruction of justice to the mix. Cause and Effect.
What does that mean? Let me illustrate with an example. Let say person “X” is accused of beating up his spouse. An investigation into domestic abuse will start taking place. So, let’s say that while this domestic abuse investigation is going on, person “X’ decides to antagonize and threaten the police officers with violence, and incites others to antagonize and threaten these police officers – as they are conducting the domestic abuse investigation. What do you think is going to happen? If you assessed that an additional charge will be added to the domestic abuse charge, then you will be correct.
Further, antagonizing the police and threatening with violence while they are investigating domestic abuse – is not helping person “X” case, is it? Use the same analogy, but just change the charges and names, and that is what happened during the Muller Report. The fact that Trump and is acolytes were attacking, disparaging, and denigrating the character of Robert Muller, made it very evident that Muller likely found a lead Trump and his acolytes found very problematic (against them).
Robert Muller himself got death threats, much like many other Trump dissenters had endured in the last several years. Especially those with a platform. But the death threats normally come from a Trump acolyte, or somebody who feel vindicated to do so in their [Trump’s] base. I should emphasize that issuing death threats onto anybody is a crime. And yes, it is a crime no matter if you do that face-to-face, by email, by social media, or any other method of communication.
And bear this in mind because of the wide context of the report. Remember, the report is a snapshot in time, but the significance of this report is a timeless tool about glaring vulnerabilities in the very fabric of American society. And yes, the exploitation of divisive vulnerabilities is designed to be like that – divisive and confusing. That is why I said that in the beginning it became a litmus test regarding our political stability.
Finding Trump guilty in the Muller Report
The official name for the Muller Report is “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election” – this report encompasses two volumes, and spans for 448 pages. In other words, the scope of the investigation was to find the facts about Russian Interference, which is not necessarily the same as an investigation about Trump, although Trump was certainly a significant factor in the entire situation – because Russia was favoring Trump over Clinton.
For us to understand the significance of this report, we have to understand that using semantics to fight the merits of the issue is not a compelling argument. It is a lot more abstract than that, because we are dealing with a strategic-level adversary levering personnel near to the sitting President of the United States, in order to push their [foreign country’s] agenda. This report is not about finding collusion, it is about connecting conspiracy behind the mechanics for which the favoring for Trump turned into action favorable to Trump.
Hope this is making sense so far, because it is about to get more abstract. It is designed to be that way. The adversary is not going to put this complex issue in a black & white, Fifth-Grade level of understanding – instead, this topic is an all-stars varsity multi-level strategy being played upon the US via its own political intricacies. Again, it is designed to be highly complex, and that is why the actual merits of the case will seem counterintuitive to a great swath of the population. Again, this report was not meant to be read by the general public, it was meant to be read by the top Attorney in the Country – The Attorney General.
And this is an important distinction. Because Muller and his team had to be impartial in their investigation. Hence, Muller (who was in charge of the investigation) was not going to declare “Guilty” or “Innocent” – among other intricacies we’ll talk about – that was not his role. His role was to find facts, write about them, and pass to the Attorney General to (for a lack of a better word) decipher what was presented to him on this report, and for him to make a recommendation as the top law enforcement person in the Federal Government at the time.
And at this particular juncture is where politics started to get from ugly to very dangerous. For as long as we can remember in the American discourse, the partisan political climate has become more and more polarized. It was not designed to be that way – it was meant to give a voice from different points of view; but through the years demagogs and other special interest powers have created a wider division among politicians. All this division is extremely convenient to regimes leading nations who have poised themselves as adversaries against America.
Some politicians (hopefully unwittingly) tend to play and parrot propagandistic points that are specifically designed to polarize America more and more. The reason for the division is incidental at best, but certainly politics is a very visceral vehicle that gets people enticed to perform actions that can very well go against their own best interests. They just don’t realize it does, because it is designed to make those victims feel like vindicated heroes, whilst making them believe they are the smartest people in the room. Sadly, that is a very prolific manipulation tool.
The damage created to discredit the Muller Report is causing negative effects even today! And that report was released in 2019. For that reason, it is worth understanding what the political climate was back during those days. And the short answer is that the ENTIRE U.S. Government, all three branches at the time were Republican. The Executive power (President), The Legislative power (Congress with the House & the Senate), and the Judicial power with a conservative majority.
If you were a Democrat, you had no chance to push any legislation at that time. That of course changed in the very next midterm election when the House Flipped to the Democrats, and the Republicans lost the majority. But by the time this report came over, it was all Republican Controlled. This was very important for many political reasons, and of course gave a very high advantage to Trump as far as how the narrative would be controlled to the rest of the Republican political base.
Sadly, that means that if Trump was found guilty of any wrongdoing, there was a snowball chance in hell of a probability the GOP (Republicans) would even hint on giving Trump any level of accountability, let alone prosecute him, recommend impeachment – or any punitive action whatsoever for that matter. Why? Because that would be political suicide, that is why.
Politics are strategic by nature, and sadly this strategy tends to leave constituents out of the equation. A shrewd politician would be able to plan several steps ahead and bamboozle a base of voters to believe a false narrative with little to no scrutiny. Yes, it is designed to be that way. A happy constituent tends to be one who feels their political leader is reading their minds and doing their will – as faithful representatives of their democratic process in Capitol Hill. You could argue, THAT is EXACTLY why they were elected in the first place to do, right?
So, what does any of this have anything to do with the Muller Report? A lot actually, that is why I say it is abstract and might even see tangential. Again, it is designed to be that way. When we look at the Muller Report there is not one page which reads “guilty” except to demonstrate that somebody pleaded as such to previous proceedings – for example, George Papadopoulos, who pleaded guilty to lying to investigators. Papadopoulos was very close in Trump’s orbit – once he became inconvenient, Trump disavowed him.
Other big names in Trump’s orbit included Gates, Manafort, and Cohen. The later was also known as “Trump’s Fixer” and better known for the case involving porn-star actress Stormy Daniels – when she engaged in what was described as a hilariously short and unpleasant, though consensual sex encounter with Trump – when his wife Melania was staying home with their still infant son Baron. And I just want to add this part about the [if you can even call it] affair (which is factual by the way – however hilariously short). Because it adds to Trump’s character and adds to why the overarching scope of his investigation is so important. Lack of character is vulnerable to exploitation – and having the President of the United States of America having an exploitable vulnerability is very dangerous for the country.
Another big player is Michael Flynn, who also pleaded guilty for lying to the FBI about talks he head with Russian ambassador Sergey Kislyak. Note that in every mention of “guilty” was for already a person in Trumps orbit who have already been convicted. It is important to pay attention to the fact that these individuals were very close to Trump – that is problematic. Who wins if the President of the United States of America has people who have pleaded guilty to some very problematic allegations? Regimes who are adversarial to America, that is who wins when this happens.
Letting Trump get away without prosecution, despite the findings of the Muller Report is what has prompted a lot of the cognitive dissidence that has endured to this day. And this is really the crux of the matter. Cognitive dissidence occurs when we let our biases control the narrative despite the facts. There is always a lot more to the empirical facts behind the superficial context of a situation. Some of the facts can certainly be obscured by misinformation, and lack of understanding of the full context.
In other words, when we are presented with a situation out of context, and we don’t have enough datapoints to ascertain the validity of those facts, then our assertion to those facts will be flawed. Hence the correct answer will feel counterintuitive, despite the facts being against their core argument. Again, it is designed to be that way. And a lot of people have fallen into that trap. It is not really their fault; a trap is designed to capture those unsuspecting souls. Much like a con artist tends to be charming and engaging. The difference is that with propaganda this is executed at a much larger scale and level of complexity.
Was Trump found Guilty?
Yes, he was found guilty of conspiracy of getting aid from a foreign government to help him with the election, and of obstructing justice and making all kinds of public acts of intimidation that among other things included death threats to Muller himself. The key word is “found” – that is not the same as “declared” guilty. Doing so gets into a semantic game that fosters cognitive dissidence.
This is how they differ. Finding instances of guilt does not necessarily mean that a person is going to be held accountable. For example, if you’re driving 20+ MPH over the speed limit, but there are no COPs around to pull you over, and issue you a citation for reckless driving – then you’re not getting accountability. You (should) know that what you did is highly illegal and can put you in a pumpkin suit, and there are several witnesses to your misdemeanor. Mainly every other car that you zoomed by – but they don’t have the authority to pull you over and give you a citation. But it is very obvious to all witnesses that you were breaking the law.
Somebody being declared guilty, that means that somebody who has the jurisdictional power to give you accountability is acting upon those findings. Following in the example, if a cop does pull you over and issues you a citation – the cop can start the accountability process, but not finish it. It would be up to a judge (in traffic court) to give the verdict on the infraction. Some judges might be lenient and let the speeder go with a warning, others might impose a heavy fine, others might send the driver straight to jail. I’ve seen cases like this all the time – it largely depends on how repentant the person placed in front of the judge is.
So, let’s bring this into context. Mueller (as the example being the cop on the above example) was gathering the information and writing the ticket. But it was going to be up to the attorney General (as the judge in the previous example) who was required to make the determination about if the president was found guilty or not. The Attorney General at the time was Bill Bahr, and he gave the press a very misleading version of what Mueller described in the findings. The point being that Bahr likely wanted to try to make this problem disappear. Particularly because of the heavy political baggage it carried. Finding Trump guilty would make the Republican party implode.
How so? Well, the obvious thing is that if Trump was found guilty, then a lot of legal actions – none of which were convenient, nor had a precedent, would inevitably snowball out of control. There was a lot of appetitive for the entire report to be released. The GOP fought tooth and nail against it, but eventually it came out. But it took a long time. During that time there were countless attacks against Mueller himself, and many more death threats not only to him, but to other people who were in favor of releasing this document. So, the fact that you can read it (even on this site) was a gigantic undertaking that was being prevented by the highest levels of government at that time.
There was an important caveat. Because Trump was a sitting President – regardless of if he was indeed guilty – he was NOT to be prosecuted. Those were the guidelines at the time, because it was meant to protect against people from attacking a President as a political eruption… with the pretense that the President was indeed an innocent person. Well, this is not very much the case in the Muller Report. Although he does not call Trump with the words “guilty” he did say that he was not exculpated from wrongdoing. And I said before, he was to present the facts, not to issue a guilty or innocent plea. But rather point if there was culpability. There was gargantuan evidence of guilt.
Using a “big word” such as not “exculpated” probably muddied the water – even though it is an accurate term. “Exculpated” means “acquitted” – Trump was not acquitted, if we put it in non-thesaurus terms. Muller went on to say that if Trump was not a sitting President he would have indeed been prosecuted. So, what does that mean? It meant that as long as Trump was President, then he was able to run that suspended guilt until he left office. But once he was gone, then accountability would follow. What would Trump’s next logical move be then?
Obviously, it was in Trump’s best interest to stay in power as long as possible! For one, because the statute of limitations would run out on this – and besides he did so much other crazy s—t after this event that the Muller Report will seem like small potatoes in comparison. But that does not mean it is any less significant, because this started a snowball effect for a lack of accountability to any sitting President.
Let’s talk about this snowball effect, this is a non-exhaustible list.
1. It forced the GOP to truly play ball and become Trump acolytes by choosing party over anything else Trump was able to get away with. Doing otherwise would be political suicide.
2. It empowered other adversarial nations to flood the USA with propaganda. The same type of divisive propaganda that has continued ever since – because it proved to be effective.
3. Fostered cognitive dissidence. It is convenient for other nations when we are divided, and if there is a communication breakdown. This first step was a proof of concept for adversarial nations as far as how people get lost in semantics rather than understanding the overall context.
4. The enemy is hidden in plain sight – who is the biggest enemy? Our own biases are being manipulated by our own misperceptions. It is designed to look black & white – but in reality, it is a very dynamic gradient. Hence, even people with good intentions will not see the true depth of the issue – it is designed to be that way – much like an illusionist only shows you what they want you to see, but the mechanics of the trick are out of sight to the general audience.
5. If Trump was able to get away with this, then he was going to continue pushing boundaries until he would get push back. He sure did, and hence he got impeached twice – and he is currently facing 90+ criminal cases, and a myriad of civil cases. Accountability started after he left the office – and the investigation into the merits for these cases already started the process before he left the presidency.
6. A lot of people got turned off by Trump, but also a whole bunch of them got ignited their newfound passion for Trump. The Republican partly itself is very fragmented. Some of Trump’s more vocal supporters are Republicans themselves; though the hate and attacks from MAGA Republicans are often directed to more “obvious” challengers – which are the Democrats.
7. Trump started a very dangerous precedent that made people around the world distrust the United States of America. Who do you think wins when America gets isolated from NATO or other partner nations? It is not the USA; it is the countries who want to get the USA to lose its primacy in the world. By getting away from interfering with our political candidates’ process, this helps other countries who do not like America to perceive that the US candidates are for Sale.
8. Propaganda Points from other countries flooded the political discourse and created an enormous social engineering campaign to find out which minds are more exploitable and obedient to Anti-American talking points, disguised as ultra-patriotic. Yes, it sounds like an oxymoron – that is why I say it seems counterintuitive to many. I wrote an entire book about it [AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools], because it is affecting us all.
Authoritarianism & Propaganda: The Puppet Master Tools by J. Marcelo Baqueroalvarez
Purchase via BookBaby Bookshop
9. The entire world was watching the proceedings about the Muller Report and caused a worldwide mistrust in the American legislative process. If the USA is not considered a reliable intrinsic arbiter of justice, then the rest of the world will start seeking for a “better alternative” to follow. There is no shortage of adversarial nations who want to set that standard. And if the USA is not holding their leaders accountable, then that becomes the norm for the rest of the world. Like it or not, the USA can either set the standard for equal accountability under the law or yield that option to any other nation who wants to impose their political agendas onto the rest of the planet.
10. Interpreting the Muller Report on “semantics” rather than substance is a very fertile ground for Information Operations campaigns by adversarial nations. In other words, they get to realize how naïve particular segments of the population are based on their lack of reading comprehension – and turn them into obedient parroting assets. More importantly, by providing these out of context talking points, they will feel vindicated as though they have “won” a battle of wits with somebody else – when in reality they have not been afforded the entire context. Plenty of people who are cynical about complex issues, but get hung up on semantics, are very much off-the mark on the actual substance of the matter. And yes, that is extremely convenient and exploitable by adversarial nations.
Moving Forward and Deprograming Compromised Minds
It might sound idealistic, but there is a way to straighten up this slew of propagandistic campaigns pouring over the USA. I use the Muller Report as an example, but there are hundreds if not thousands additional examples linked to Trump alone. But he is not the only one who enjoys a cult following, many of his acolytes also benefit from that clout. And even those who say that they don’t support him could very well be misled by thinking that “giving him a perceived fair” shot is a valid argument – when in reality, Trump was indeed guilty – hence, giving a “perceived fair shot” after he already has tilted the system on this favor is in fact a win for America’s adversaries.
What do I mean by that? Lately, as I became an author, I had to start learning the intricacies of the social media world. Not that I am super stoke about that, and I only hang out on the different platforms whenever I have some downtime. Which is not that much time actually. At this point in time, I am either checking my social media accounts while I am taking mini breaks during actual stuff I need to do in the computer – of if I so happen to be in a waiting room – as I have to sit and stay put prior to a scheduled appointment.
But no, debating people on Twitter (X) in 280 characters or less, or in Threads in 500 characters or less is not the only thing I have to do with my day. Especially if the cognitive dissidence from somebody drowning in a glass of water that they poured themselves off proves it is too much of a waste of time for me to spend my scarce time dealing with them. I’ve met all kinds of people, from super nice human beings to well-intentioned confused people, to incredibly nasty individuals. During the less desirable interactions, I am afforded the opportunity to use it as a metric on how this cognitive dissidence has taken a foothold in the propagandistic realm.
Generally speaking, some people who seem to fall into a certain category (being left or right), tend to trail a very particular pattern of biases. All of which are very exploitable, and they have been exploited in spectacular fashion (even if they think they are winning an argument – thus prompting them to perpetuate that behavior). To figure out if they have been deceived, sometimes it is as simple as doing a quick check by looking at their feed, their vernacular, their answers to other tweets, the memes they post, their level of misguided arrogance, etc.
It is similar but more complex when we validate and assess how some people (to include those I mentioned) have easily been manipulated by adversarial nations Information Operation campaigns, and other methods of exploiting their biases. These are synonyms for propaganda.
And if you think only Trump supporters fall for this, think again. Even those who are against Trump can be vulnerable to unwittingly support those who want to see Trump back in office. And yes, it will seem counterintuitive to them as well. I mentioned earlier in the article that this level of propaganda is at a high varsity level. Most people sadly will read tweets or read important talking points at a very elementary level. Then it is very easy to hide gargantuan amounts of misinformation on a semi-superficial level of veracity. Again, it is designed to look legitimate. Especially to target those who superficially think they have it all figured it out. There is plenty of room to add visceral responses in whatever falls through the cracks.
But for us who have been afforded a different vantage point and have dedicated our lives to understanding these intricacies – the falsehoods stand up like a sore thumb. Once you see it, you cannot unsee it. It does not make us “better than anybody” – what it does, however, gives us a level of awareness that is otherwise hidden in plain sight. Again, that is why I wrote an entire book about authoritarian propaganda [AUTHORITARIANISM & PROPAGANDA The Puppet Master Tools}. And it is also the reason why I keep writing these long-form articles. Riding just ahead is extremely important, and many people are oblivious to that fact.
Authoritarianism & Propaganda the Puppet Master Tools
by J. Marcelo Baqueroalvarez | BookBaby Bookshop
The political discourse is full of misinformation, and when something important comes to light, it quickly loses the spotlight to another event – suddenly this previously important event becomes forgotten, and the facts for the argument become misconstrued. In other words, it is easy to help a person you don’t like win, just by misconstruing the facts -even if in your mind you think you’re attacking this person, or “just letting the system” run its course – without really understanding if the system perhaps has been compromised.
I keep saying it and will keep repeating it. It is designed to be that way. It can be frustrating at times when I talk to some people in Twitter, or other social media outlets and they are clearly confused about something, but in their minds, they think they are spot on, or that they had a sick burn on me or whomever they are debating.
Let me make this entirely clear. First, I have a lot better things to do that debate somebody who clearly has not done their homework; and to build on that statement – they are just not ready to make the argument because their understanding has plot holes large enough to fly jumbo jets through it. But in their mind, they might think they have it all figured it out. Again, propaganda is designed to be that way. There is always a lot more than what meets the eye, and a semantic battle is often non-compelling to the actual merits of a situation.
The Muller report found Trump guilty but won’t not say guilty. It found what it needed to find, which was conspiracy from a foreign country to interfere with our elections, and obstruction to investigate said obstruction. That begs the question. Why did Russia (in this case) wanted Trump to win over Clinton?
Think about it for a moment, and this will [hopefully] give you the “ah ha” realization about why the Muller report is so important. Why did Russia favored Trump over Clinton to the point they would interfere with our election process?
The answer is obvious, but it is complex. The obvious part is because Clinton would have been inconvenient to Russia. That’s the obvious part (yes, I said it twice). The complex part is the thousands of reasons for why this was the case. And no, it is not just because Clinton was better prepared (like her or dislike her) than Trump for president between both candidates. Learning the intricacies of government is not something that you can do in a short amount of time. To put it in context, even our turnover whenever we have one military member taking the EXACT job we are performing, despite the fact they arrive highly trained for whenever they come from one unit to the other is a very thoroughly complex process.
The less obvious part is Trump’s character, and the character of people in his orbit – and how this can erode the trust of our institutions and the divisiveness that was going to create in the USA for years to come. In that sense, it was a huge win for them (America’s adversaries). Not only did democrats and republicans further polarized, but it also destroyed in the internal political parties inside their own ranks – and further radicalized people (from either side) who think they are the only ones holding the truth – so long it is dissenting with the other side.
By enabling Trump to essentially get away with a bunch of problematic issues as they were found in the Muller Report (and his many controversies), makes it extremely convenient for America’s adversaries to push all kinds of other divisive rhetoric – and find a fertile ground to keep dividing us. And yes, they are doing that even as we speak. You’ll be surprised how many “patriots” and other unwitting acolytes repost a lot of propaganda points that are against their own interests – and most definitely against the interests of the United States of America.
Fast forward to 2024, and some people still think that the Muller Report found Trump innocent. It didn’t, many people in his orbit went to prison because of it. Trump would have joined them in a pumpkin suit IF he was NOT a Sitting President. That is why, of course, it is worth mentioning why Trump will continue seeking the Presidency. Because if he is not a sitting president, he is liable to prosecution.
Just pay attention to some of his rhetoric [especially the days circa when this article was written] asking for unabashed immunity for potential crimes. Such as when his lawyer was asked if hypothetically Trump should be prosecuted if he directed Seal Team #6 to assassinate a political opponent – and he asserted that he would be ok, unless both he gets impeached and convicted by Congress… But keep in mind that even if that ever happens, then the political opponent is already dead in this case.
This is what the Muller Report found that Trump has proclivity to do some certainly illegal actions – and use the limitations in the legal system to get away with it. And the startling thing is that the partisanship in the system has enabled him to get away with all of this. The Muller Report is only the dress rehearsal for a lot more than followed. And it is worth reminding that the entire US Government was Republican led at that time, so there was no way they would hold Trump accountable or impeach him, because for the GOP, that would be a win to the Democrats – when in reality it would be a win for America, because it would hold every person equal under the law, regardless of party loyalty. That course of action was convenient to adversarial nations too.
How can we solve this situation? It starts with each and every one of us. I cannot change your mind, I can only give you the facts, and spark that curiosity needed to continue researching the exceedingly deep levels of context affecting this situation. I’m doing my part by writing from an objective perspective. If it was a left-wing candidate doing the same stuff I would be writing about and condemning them too. Each person owns their own life, but their actions can positively or adversely affect collective lives if they cling to propagandistic blind spots that cloud their judgement. HLC