Robert Mueller (The White House)

When I first heard news Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller had delivered his report on Trump-Russia and found no conspiracy my response was, what the f**k? However, Mueller did say that he could not clear Trump of obstruction of justice. Attorney General William Barr somehow interpreted this to mean Mueller’s report totally exonerated the president.

Muller and Barr somehow want us to ignore the following facts:

Russia hacked the DNC and used that information to create anti-Hillary messages. They also created the Internet Research Agency (IRA) that used its army of trolls to push out these messages on social media. According to The Center for American Progress’ website The Moscow Project, the IRA had thousands of workers and a budget of $1.25 million. Eighty workers alone were designated to work on the 2016 elections.

The Moscow Project also states there were more than 100 contacts between Russian officials and Trump campaign staffers. Some of those staffers included George Papadopoulos, Roger Stone, Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, former Attorney General Jeff Sessions and campaign chief Paul Manafort. Manafort has deep ties to Russia and has run campaigns in Ukraine. He also owed Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska $20 million. Manafort also shared polling data with Konstantin Kilimnik, a former Russian military intelligence operative.

Trump explicitly asked the Russians to “find Hillary’s emails” in July 2016. The Russian hack of the DNC was launched in June 2016. A month later, Wikileaks released the emails online.

But apparently, Mueller believes the Russians had no ulterior motive for this. I think Mueller’s investigation was given an incredibly narrow scope. He was looking for a smoking gun that provided a direct link between Trump and the Russians and he didn’t find it.

Former NSA officer Malcolm Nance said the conspiracy was in “plain sight,” but Mueller had to stick within the guidelines of the law.

“The question is Robert Mueller’s standard for that — which is a legal standard for that — which, to him, was if there is no a wink and a nod that I can see or technically a signed SFB contract then I can’t bring them up on the charges,” said Nance on MSNBC.

It’s not like America doesn’t have a history of doing this. The one thing I’ve noticed about American politics is sometimes the government would rather cover up a scandal than admit America’s as corrupt as your average banana republic.

Although Mueller couldn’t make a case against Trump, there is plenty of circumstantial evidence linking him to Russia. The Mueller probe also produced 34 indictments and at least six convictions.

As I said in a previous column, Trump is a career criminal who’s been breaking the law for more than 30 years. He also operates like a high-level mob boss, who’s careful to insulate himself from crimes. He won’t commit a crime, but he’ll direct one of his subordinates to break the law and act like he doesn’t know anything about it. That’s why Michael Cohen is headed to jail.

Trump was also helped by Barr, who has a history of covering up government scandals. Barr played a role in President George H.W. Bush’s decision to pardon six government officials involved in the Iran-Contra scandal. Expecting Barr to help convict Trump is like that meme about police investigations. The meme says, “We’ve investigated ourselves, and found ourselves not guilty.”

It’s not like America doesn’t have a history of doing this. The one thing I’ve noticed about American politics is sometimes the government would rather cover up a scandal than admit America’s as corrupt as your average banana republic.

This has happened before. The Florida election in 2000, the Ohio election in 2004, the Saudi-9/11 link and the lies behind the Iraq war are all examples of scandals that were never thoroughly investigated. Too often the government says, “There’s nothing left to see here. We need to move on for the good of the country.” The truth usually comes out several years later. But by then, the administration that oversaw the scandal is out of power and it’s too late to go after the perpetrators.

Sarah Kendzior, an academic who specializes in studying authoritarian regimes, predicted the Mueller probe wouldn’t have a happy ending. She said Americans don’t appreciate how deep the corruption goes.

“We are under kleptocratic rule and people need to understand what’s happening through that framework, in which old calculations do not apply. We do not have law. When you lose law, you are left with two things: raw power, and conscience,” said Kendzior on Twitter.

But the failure of the Mueller probe does real damage to the country. Trump, the most corrupt president in modern history, now feels empowered to keep breaking the law, the left-wing media have been made to look like fools since they falsely believed Mueller was a shining knight, the justice system looks even more broken, and critics, like me, who refuse to believe the report now sound like Alex Jones-type conspiracy nuts.

And on top of that, the Russians are also gloating since they’ve proved they can get away with tampering with American elections. They’re also laughing at the chaos they’ve caused and the fact Americans are tripping over themselves to get to the truth.

According to the Daily Beast, Konstantin Kosachev, a Russian senator, said, “So, Mueller’s long-awaited report proved what was known in Russia from the very beginning: There was no collusion between Trump and any of his team with the Kremlin.”

This is troubling for two reasons. Firstly, it’s gaslighting and secondly it means the GOP is in lockstep with Russia, a country whose leader has expressly stated his desire to reduce America’s power.

Be afraid.