Following the end of the investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller's office, and delivery of the report to Attorney General Bob Barr with no recommendations for indictment, there have been a spate of compilation videos and Tweet archives wagging fingers back at Democrats and media who were expecting a different result.

But among all those schadenfreude expressions and told-you-so talks, one video montage, from Grabien, truly stands out.

It's the severity of the expectation here. It is one thing to talk about reporters on the cable networks reasonably discussing the details of the investigation or speculating about possible outcomes, but that isn't really much crow to eat.

But the folks below... well they took it to a whole other level. This is "he's leaving the White House in handcuffs" territory.

You really just have to see it for yourself.



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You have to hand it to Grabien, their montages are often masterpieces.

There are two important things to note, here. One is that the contents of the Mueller report remain unknown, and may detail embarrassing or even disturbing facts that are not yet public. Or it may contain nothing of any surprise at all.



The second is that, while the handcuffs talk may be over as far as the Mueller probe goes, the Democrats won't be giving up the dream very easily. MSNBC is already speculating not only that the unknown contents are damning, but that a cover-up is underway or soon to be underway. Meanwhile, your run-of-the-mill #Resistance enthusiast is already moving on to expecting jail to come at the behest of the Southern District of New York. And they have the swag to show it.

Nevertheless, it's instructive to see encapsulated above the fervor of anticipation among the members of the press for seeing a president take a perp walk. As Ted Koppel recently said of the media, they really were out to get him. For many, including the fellow journalist with whom Koppel was speaking, that is an admission without guilt. Because they believe to be out to get him is to be right, in both the factual and moral sense.

It's hard to imagine, though, there isn't at least some chagrin creeping in for the folks in the above clip. At least some bashful foot-shuffling. You have to admit, expectations were wildly out of sync with Friday's events.

