New York (CNN Business) A version of this article first appeared in the "Reliable Sources" newsletter. You can sign up for free right here.

Once in a while "SNL" perfectly crystallizes our political moment. This is one of those times.

Saturday's cold open showed how the end of Robert Mueller's investigation is being interpreted, twisted and exploited:

Robert De Niro as Mueller: "On the charge of obstruction of justice, we have not drawn a definitive conclusion."

Aidy Bryant as Bill Barr: "But I have! And my conclusion is, Trump's clean as a whistle."

Alec Baldwin as President Trump: "Free at last, free at last."

The public will see Mueller's report sometime in April -- but Trump and his media allies have already hardened the right's perceptions of what the report says. The no-collusion cake has been baked. "SNL" nailed this:

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