No Collusion! Well, Maybe a Little Collusion, But Hardly Any

“No collusion! No collusion!” 

Like a deranged parrot, Trump kept repeating these words from his Mar-a-Lago lair last Wednesday – even when nobody was accusing him of collusion with the Russians.
 

Trump’s claim of “No collusion” is bullshit, of course, because we know there was some collusion - Jared and Don Jr. met with the Russians in Trump Tower, for one thing. Then Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Rick Gates, and George Papadopoulos have all been accused of dirty dealings involving Russians, and most of these folks have pleaded guilty to one crime or another.

It may be that the Trump team’s collusion does not rise to the level of an impeachable offense. So, if Mr. Trump wants to stick to the facts (bwaahahahaha!), what he should be incessantly repeating is “Not very much collusion!” That at least might possibly be true.

I have a theory about why Trump sucks up to Putin so much and keeps going soft on the Russians even though they have clearly messed with our election. I think he is financially in over his head with Putin and other Russian oligarchs. He probably owes them wagon-loads of money and he doesn’t want us to know about this. But we will know, because Special Counsel Robert Mueller is plowing relentlessly ahead, and eventually he will, I believe, reveal all the Trump organization’s ties to the Russian thugs before he is done.

When that happens, I expect Trump will loudly crow, “See? These are just some innocent cash transactions between friends. No collusion!”

If this is what we end up with, Trump will probably get a reprimand, but no impeachment. And, of course, some of his associates, and maybe even a family member or two, will get jail sentences. These may never be served since Trump will undoubtedly pardon everyone he possibly can (i.e., those charged strictly with federal rather than state-level crimes).

I believe this outcome will damage Trump’s standing with the voting public and may well mean that the Blue Wave that is predicted for the upcoming elections, will turn into a Blue Tsunami.

Even if Trump is shown to have sucked up to America’s Russian enemies, he won’t be impeached and removed from office because there are 30 or 40 Republicans in the Senate who care more about holding onto power than defending America. With a few notable exceptions, like Jeff Flake and Ben Sasse, Congressional Republicans have sold their souls to Trump and his deluded base.

Honestly, the way people like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell coyly cuddle up to Trump is similar to the way Trump cuddles up to Putin. And let’s not forget Mike Pence, who spends most of his time smirking contentedly in the background, dreaming of his turn in the White House - as Trump systematically undermines the FBI and the Justice Department.

What has made the Trump disaster possible is Fox News. As Margaret Sullivan of the Washington Post wrote recently, Nixon was forced out of office for his illegal acts, but Trump may not suffer this fate simply because he has Fox News backing him up.

According to Sullivan, Fox News, and in particular, Sean Hannity, have been “softening the ground” for Trump, by portraying the FBI and the Justice Department as the bad guys. And, she writes, the message is sinking in: “In a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll, three of four Republicans said they believed the Justice Department and the FBI are actively working to undermine Trump.”

Chew on that for a minute. A large majority of Republicans believe that the FBI, which, of course, is led by Trump-appointed Republicans, is trying to undermine American democracy.

Thanks, Fox News.

Fox is so outrageously irresponsible, that even when it was revealed that Sean Hannity shared an attorney with Donald Trump, he received no reprimand. Contrast this with the firing of Dan Rather by CBS, and the demotion of Brian Williams by NBC for much lesser errors of judgment.

Watching various Fox programs these past few weeks has given me a little insight into their line of propaganda. For one thing, their so-called “reporters” routinely refer to Democrats, the Left, the media, the establishment, the swamp, and what they imagine to be “the Deep State” interchangeably, as though all these entities were one and the same thing. And, in the paranoid nightmarish landscape they strive to conjure up, all are out to get the competent and morally worthy Donald Trump.

I’ve never been a fan of Fox News, but my sense of revulsion over what they represent has reached new depths this year. What they are doing is to make the ideal of a free press seem ridiculous. This is also what authoritarians want us to believe. If a gaggle of shameless hucksters can convince millions of gullible television viewers that Robert Mueller and the FBI are evil, while Donald Trump is good, how can a free press be embraced as a democratic ideal?

Of course, I still very much believe in a free press. I just wish the viewing public were better at distinguishing honest, responsible reporting from partisan propaganda and preposterous lies.

In the meantime, Mr. Mueller, please carry on. Most Americans who are not Republicans believe in what you are doing and look forward to your findings. As far as I’m concerned (I can’t speak for most Americans on this point), I expect that what you find will make Mr. Trump and his people look pretty rancid. And chances are this will hurt the GOP both in the long run and in the upcoming midterm elections, even if it turns out that there was “hardly any collusion.”