Welcome to DU!
The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards.
Join the community:
Create a free account
Support DU (and get rid of ads!):
Become a Star Member
Latest Breaking News
General Discussion
The DU Lounge
All Forums
Issue Forums
Culture Forums
Alliance Forums
Region Forums
Support Forums
Help & Search
General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsDahlia Lithwick: Mueller Can't Get Away With Silence Anymore
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2019/05/robert-mueller-william-barr-rift-mueller-must-speak.htmlMueller Cant Get Away With Silence Anymore
The rift between the special counsel and Attorney General William Barr is too obvious to ignore.
By Dahlia Lithwick
May 02, 20191:58 PM
For almost all of the story of To Kill a Mockingbird, Boo Radley is nothing more than a metaphor. Hes a mysterious, shadowy figure who can be pressed into service to symbolize any number of literary tropes, but despite the importuning of primary characters who only want Boo to come out of his house, he only does so when hes ready, and when its necessary.
Robert Mueller has been, for more than two years, a metaphor. Hes been the guy whose firing would have signified the pick-up-a-brick moment for millions of Americans, hes been the caped superhero coming to save us all, and hes also been the shadowy Clark Kent, toiling away in dorky obscurity, refusing to engage with whatever it is that corrupts even well-meaning public servants who must interact with Donald Trump. For two years, Mueller has defied all public longings and expectations and demands, instead allowing his indictments, his report, and his words on paper to speak for themselves. But like Boo Radley, its now time for Robert Mueller to come out.
snip//
But its not just that. At the most basic level, Barr has distorted Muellers actual work product, including his polite and confidential and lawyerly letter asking (twice) that Barr correct his inaccurate summary of Muellers careful report. Its a letter that Wireds Garrett Graff, who wrote a book about Mueller, described thusly: Ive read just about every word Bob Mueller has ever said publicly or published. Hes written precisely one letter like the angry one he sent to Barr: It excoriated Scotland for letting the Pan Am 103 bomber out of prison.
With the rollout of the report and Wednesdays charged testimony, Barr betrayed Mueller the institutionalist not once but twice, first by warping years of his teams painstaking investigative work in order to control the media narrative, and then by denigrating Muellers March 27 letter as the work of a snitty staffer, as opposed to a sober and deliberate bit of caution from the special counsel quietly asking that his work not be appropriated for political ends.
Mueller, a lifelong Republican, has triedprobably harder than any public figure in the Trump ambitto avoid doing anything that would draw him into the tractor beam of bullying, name-calling, and soapy melodrama that are the final resting place for anyone who involves himself with this president. Where lesser men have attempted to split the difference, compromise at the margins, and to persuade themselves that they were still doing noble work despite allowing Donald Trump to use and exploit them, Mueller simply never engaged, even when the president was attacking him by name. It was an elegant dance, along the invisible seam of public and private, institutionalism and self-protection. This studied restraint rested on Muellers unwavering assumption that if he trusted the fact-finding process of the investigation and the machinery of the Justice Department, he might come out the other side intact.
snip//
I dont envy Robert Mueller. As the one and only character in this endless gothic saga who has managed to remain untarnished by the presidents highly contagious lack of principle, I take no pleasure in arguing that he will now have to engage. His silence and doggedness should have spoken louder than words. But in the hands of someone as bent on politicizing his efforts as William Barr, his silence and doggedness have now been weaponized against him. The special counsel cannot just live amid the heroic metaphors anymore. Like Boo Radley, Mueller needs to come out.
InfoView thread info, including edit history
TrashPut this thread in your Trash Can (My DU » Trash Can)
BookmarkAdd this thread to your Bookmarks (My DU » Bookmarks)
5 replies, 869 views
ShareGet links to this post and/or share on social media
AlertAlert this post for a rule violation
PowersThere are no powers you can use on this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
ReplyReply to this post
EditCannot edit other people's posts
Rec (14)
ReplyReply to this post
5 replies
= new reply since forum marked as read
Highlight:
NoneDon't highlight anything
5 newestHighlight 5 most recent replies
Dahlia Lithwick: Mueller Can't Get Away With Silence Anymore (Original Post)
babylonsister
May 2019
OP
100% sure Mueller thinks America will have free / fair elections in 2020 & Russia will NOT be factor
uponit7771
May 2019
#1
+1, the level of penetration into state and local electoral systems is gob smacking
uponit7771
May 2019
#3
uponit7771
(90,323 posts)1. 100% sure Mueller thinks America will have free / fair elections in 2020 & Russia will NOT be factor
... otherwise he'd be screaming and hollering
elleng
(130,825 posts)2. Screaming and hollering doesn't seem to be in his character,
and I wonder how he or anyone could really think we will have free/fair elections anymore. I WISH it were so.
uponit7771
(90,323 posts)3. +1, the level of penetration into state and local electoral systems is gob smacking
treestar
(82,383 posts)4. Are we sure we are not
Just looking for entertainment? More soapy melodrama?
babylonsister
(171,045 posts)5. Not I. I want to see the bastid
proved guilty beyond a shadow of a doubt. I think Mueller can do that.