The investigation into Trump and Russian collusion has reached its conclusion with some pleased and others refusing to accept the results
On January 20, 2017, President Donald Trump was sworn in as the 45th president of the United States of America. This began one of the rockiest two-year periods for any president in American history.
According to BBC News, “US intelligence agencies concluded in 2016 that Russia was behind an effort to tip the scales of the US election against Hillary Clinton, with a state-authorized campaign of cyber attacks and fake news stories planted on social media.”
After two years of bombshells, accusations and attacks hurled by both sides, the investigation has finally come to a close. To the dismay of many, the ending of this investigation seems as though it is going to leave more questions than answers.
The report itself has yet to be released; however, Attorney General William Barr released a summary of what the report contains. According to a direct quote from the investigative report, “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.”
This news came out as a complete rattle to mainstream media. For two straight years, they had been pushing an agenda that was hinged on impeaching the president because of his “obvious” ties to Russia. Without proper evidence to back the story, the media’s position is now falling apart. It appears there are only two valid options for them: either accept that they were wrong and report the news objectively or claim the report is false. They have chosen the latter.
Some members of Congress have decided to withhold commentary until the full report comes out. Others, such as representative Jim Himes (Conn.), took a different approach. According to Politico, Himes said, “the fact that the president of the United States is not in a criminal conspiracy with a foreign enemy is cause for celebration, not for disappointment. And if you get your head into a place where you think it’s a bad thing that the president is not a traitor, you’ve got to reorient your head.”
While Mueller found no evidence of collusion with Russia, he did find that there were two attempts by the Russians to interfere but were rejected by the Trump campaign. Furthermore, the investigation that consisted of at least 2,800 subpoenas, 500 interviews and 40 FBI agents did indict 34 people. This talking point for the Democrats holds little water because according to USA Today, “None of the charges involved a conspiracy between the campaign and Russians.” Most were due to finance laws being broken.
When all is said and done, I think there is one question all Americans have: Will this end it all?
Some are saying this report will help Trump’s 2020 chances, and others are saying this summary simply is not enough and the full report needs to be released. The attorney general is currently working on making that information available to the public. At the end of the day, I think those who support Trump will stand by him and those who don’t will remain against him, regardless of what information emerges.
Most of the media that wanted to impeach Trump are following the train of waiting for the facts or flat out denying that Barr would tell the truth. Clearly, as we have seen with other false reports, if Mueller saw Barr was lying, he would let the public know the truth. That, however, does not stop people like Joy Behar from suggesting that “This is just round one” and that we should “just hold our breath,” according to Fox News.
Left-leaning outlets are going so far as claiming that the president not colluding with Russia is somehow hurt our nation, because in the end, he is still president. Max Boot of The Washington Post went so far as to suggest that “the scandal here is not that Trump has been investigated. It is that he won the presidency with the aid of Russia.” They wanted Trump impeached so badly that they actually wanted there to be a real connection with Russia, something quite un-American in my opinion.
It might just be time to finally accept what never was and move on as a nation. There was no collusion, like it or not. This should be a win for the American political system. The media’s temper tantrum has been blown out of proportion for two years.
Maybe this obstruction of feelings will lead the media to a reversion of simply looking for the facts and the truth, and America can move on.