Stephen Kotkin64
did not constitute obstruction o
justice. Still, Mueller’s accessibly
written compendium o
substantiated facts delivers an unambiguous
ethical indictment o Trump’s campaign and presidency.
Mueller’s chronicle o
prevarication, moral turpitude, and incom-
petence is dispiriting, but his presentation o
rigorous legal reasoning
and strict adherence to statutes, case law, and procedural rules is in-
spiring. The text serves as an x-ray, revealing a venal politician and a
corrupt political system. At the same time, it embodies many o
the
values that make the United States great: integrity, meticulousness,
professionalism, public service, and the rule o law.
O
course, showmanship, a buccaneering spirit, and go-for-broke
instincts are also among the traits that made America what it is. Trump,
in his nonpareil fashion, characterized the Mueller report as both “total
exoneration” and “total bullshit.” Trump is a phenomenon. Only a gen-
uinely formidable personality could withstand such intense, unremit-
ting investigative pressure and hostility, even i he has brought no small
degree o
it on himself. Trump lacks the facility to govern eectively,
but he knows how to command the attention o
the highly educated
and dominate the news cycle. There is a reason he proved able, in a
single election cycle, to vanquish both the entrenched Bush and Clinton
dynasties. Trump’s aws and transgressions are now well documented.
Yet he has not perpetrated a catastrophe remotely on the scale o
the
Iraq war or the global nancial crisis.
The report makes clear that Trump the politician resembles Trump
the businessman. Before he became president, whenever he got into
trouble (which he constantly did), he would sue, obtaining a settle-
ment to extricate himself. He and his businesses got involved in around
3,500 lawsuits, in a majority o
them as the plainti. I
all else failed,
Trump would declare bankruptcy. Between 1991 and 2009, his compa-
nies went through six corporate bankruptcies under Chapter 11. But
although he had to relinquish many o his properties, he avoided hav-
ing to le for personal bankruptcy.
His presidency is eectively a seventh bankruptcy. But once again,
it might not be a personal one. Instead, it might be America’s bank-
ruptcy: a chance for the country to cut its losses and start afresh.
That would require an acknowledgment by Trump’s supporters
that Mueller’s portrait is damning. Trump’s opponents, meanwhile,
would have to admit that their portrait o him as a singular threat to
the republic lacks context and perspective. (Imagine, for example, i
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