So, Mueller’s investigation has finally concluded, and it felt like it happened with less of a bang and more of a whimper. Not because of his conclusions, but because we don’t know what they are or if we’ll ever really see them. Because that was always going to be the thing. Everyone was all super curious about how this was going to shake out, and not enough people were thinking about whether or not anyone would actually KNOW how it shook out when it happened. The AG and ardent Trump defender is keeping everything pretty close to the chest, and now Congress is going to probably head out on a fishing expedition to find out what is actually inside the damn report. Did Trump obstruct Justice? Did Mueller come to that conclusion? Will we ever have a clear idea of what Mueller actually turned up? I dunno. Life is just anticlimactic sometimes.
A few things I need to get out of the way. CNN isn’t fake news. But for that matter, Fox News isn’t either. Don’t get me wrong. Fox News is heavily slanted, and some of it’s “journalists” (Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity, Jeanine Pirro, Laura Ingraham, etc.) manipulate facts and data to support unrealistic conclusions, but it’s not “fake” news. Both networks have actual journalists, and (usually) report on the important stories of the day. But both networks have their slant. Fox News’ is arguably steeper, going extremely conservative, while CNN can boast a bit more balance, and is better about retracting false or misleading stories. But they both DO report the actual news (mostly). So how are they capable of covering the exact same story and drawing the exact opposite conclusion? It’s ludicrous and can be totally infuriating. I like to think that I’m a moderate that leans left. It’s an admittedly pretty dramatic lean, but I don’t think my political views don’t stray too far away from the center. And as such I want to find as many perspectives on the news as I can find. But when I hear CNN and Fox News explain to me the exact same story with drastically different outcomes, I realize why it’s so easy for Trump to lie about the media and get away with it.
So, the Dems released a memo of their own. And despite having some redactions, it’s a pretty comprehensive rebuttal to the one Nunes released a few weeks back. It has several more detailed pages regarding the FISA requests and the evidence regarding it, and just all the things that took place behind the scenes of the surveillance of Carter Page and the early investigation into Russia’s interference. Trump of course is leading the charge of the pushback, saying that the whole thing nothing, fraudulent, and suggesting that Adam Schiff broke the law. Basically all the same things the Dems said when Nune’s memo came out. It’s the political Circle of Life.
So a fun political buzzword we keep hearing lately is “Nothing Burger.” I mean, It’s a term that’s been around for like 70 years, but in the age of “fake news” and non-stop information flooding every aspect of our existence, parsing the things that have real significance from the things that don’t is tangible problem. Take the infamous memo released this weekend. While Trump claims it completely vindicates him, eagle eyed viewers would recognize that it’s mostly just an accusatory document attacking the quality of evidence used to secure a surveillance warrant. In political terms, it can, and probably should be argued that it is the dictionary definition of a Nothing Burger. While I don’t think the Republicans are the only people in government utilizing the concept, they are certainly turning it into an art.
Mind the Exit 