droodzilla
pfm Member
Here, as promised, is my (partial) reply.
There are several reason progressives might wish to dismiss Mueller's investigation, or to diminish its importance. I think the three main ones are rooted in fear of (or anxiety about): 1. anti-climax; 2. distraction; and 3. collusion (with the "deep state"). I'll talk about each in turn.
1. Fear of Anti-Climax:
The anxiety here is that Mueller's investigation has been overhyped: what if Mueller's crime soufflé fall flat as soon as it's taken out of the oven? There has been so much speculation about what Mueller *might* find that anything less than the "greatest conspiracy in US history" will result in nothing more than shrugs from the American public. This point hasn't been raised here for a while but - if the reaction of The View panel to Flynn's indictment is anything to go by - it's the one that concerns me the most.
Even if Mueller can only prove Trump had dodgy business connections in Russia and that this is distorted his foreign policy, that in itself is a major issue. I wouldn't wish to see its significance downplayed because it wasn't the grand conspiracy some people have speculated about based on what's already in the public domain. This is why, in my posts about the Mueller investigation, I tend to adopt a cautious "wait and see" position. In any case, it's the only one with a measure of intellectual integrity.
2. Fear of Distraction:
This is the argument that the Mueller investigation is distracting us from all the other bad things Trump is doing and is "sucking the air" out of political debate. I think this is empircally false.
To take an example that's close to hand, look at the contents of this thread. Discussion of the Mueller investigation tends to peak when a new development is announced, which is only natural. But the thread has highlighted just about every bad thing Trump has done I can think of from the Britain First retweets to the Jerusalem announcement, through the Tax Bill, attempted repeal of Obamacare, withdrawal from the Paris agreement on climate change, Charlottesville... Also, you add to the Mueller mania as much as anyone, every time you post the latest episode of Jimmy Dore snark about it.
All of these other stories have been reported extensively on BBC News too. In recent days, the aftershock of Trump's Jerusalem announcement has taken centre stage with many reports of increased unrest in Palestine and the negative reaction of other world leaders. I was surprised to see Emily Maitlis give Regev a pretty hard time on Newsnight last week as she's usually quite lightweight as an interviewer. I'm sure similar remarks apply to other news outlets - Mueller coverage will peak with each fresh development and then subside to make way for other stories, some of which will be about bad stuff Trump's doing.
Likewise in the real world, I see no evidence that protest and resistance to Trump has been choked out by Mueller's investigation. It began with the massive protests by women shortly after Trump's inauguration and has continued ever since, most recently with Native American leaders vowing to see Trump in court over his decision to hugely reduce the area of two national parks, and with Muslims praying outside the White House.
Are the Democrats fixated on the Mueller investigation? Quite possibly, but this is understandable given they're outnumbered in both houses and Trump's in the White House. I don't keep tabs on the day to day nitty-gritty of US politics but I assume the Democrats are trying to impede Trump’s agenda in other ways but that’s hard given the numbers and the increasingly partisan nature of US politics. They’re also probably a bit sh*t and lacking in political imagination, but that’s another matter.
So, I don’t agree that the Mueller investigation is sucking the air out of political debate. It’s empirically weak and intrinsically implausible. A stronger argument is that the focus on *Trump* to the exclusion of almost everything else is sucking the air out of political debate. The idea is that Trump isn’t the real problem but a symptom of deeper underlying issues: essentially that the political and economic system has failed the many, and that radical change is needed. I have a lot more sympathy with this argument but the fact remains that Trump has been able to capitalise on the underlying discontent of the masses in ways that are profoundly destructive and liable to have far-reaching negative consequences. So it’s important to keep informed about and to keep resisting what Trump is doing, even while we keep in mind the larger context and the need for a political shift.
I’ll pause there for now and continue with the third point later or tomorrow...
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