First, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” became Amazon’s top selling book even before the official publication hit the bookshelves. Then Oprah Winfrey’s speech at the Golden Globe Awards turned into talk of her running for president in 2020. The common thread between these stories and Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation is the misguided impatience of the liberal electorate.
Michael Wolff’s “Fire and Fury” is nothing more than a book the ‘I told you so’ crowd can use to prove they’re right to everyone who already agrees with them. It changes nothing, while leaving in place the worthless search for evidence of Donald Trump’s incompetence in every statement that leaves his lips or twittering fingers.
The 2020 speculation about Winfrey was a disturbingly immature reaction to one speech by a person who’s never held public office before. It’s not only the irony in that disqualifying fact should have been painfully obvious. Acting like the next election can’t come soon enough is a surrender to impotence.
Such stories shouldn’t qualify as serious journalism. And yet, CNN, MSNBC and countless newspapers turned what would have once been considered only a notch above gossip into crowd pleasing news worthy of detailed examination.
Mueller’s probe doesn’t fall into the tabloid category. The plea bargains and indictments are real news. But much the media’s analysis of those, every witness questioned, and the leaks are all being served up as appetizers to satisfy the left’s hunger to see the Trump presidency end.
It’s all alarmingly reminiscent of the media spectacle leading up to and through the impeachment of President Bill Clinton. In that case, Congress appointed Robert Fiske as special counsel to reexamine the 1970s Whitewater real estate controversy involving the Clintons. When he found insufficient evidence of wrongdoing, they gave the job to Kenneth Starr. He came up empty on Whitewater too. But after refocusing on the affair between the president and Monica Lewinsky, he issued findings of 11 impeachable offenses, including perjury, obstruction of justice, witness tampering and abuse of power.
Throughout that four-year process, conservative news organizations accommodated the feeding frenzy of their loyal followers. Clinton and his supporters responded by calling the investigation a political witch-hunt and claiming Starr was tainted by partisan bias.
Back then, House Speaker Newt Gingrich was right to call such attacks by Clinton surrogates “profoundly demeaning and destructive.” But what he got wrong was both sides were undermining the sanctity of the judicial process. The right first turned it into a political spectacle to which the left put out a counter political narrative.
Gingrich is part of today’s story too. Although he waited to endorse Trump until it was clear he’d be the party’s nominee, he’s been a vocal supporter ever since. Only now he’s the one demeaning the special counsel by claiming the investigation is biased and calling top officials in the Justice Department and the FBI corrupt. Like every other conservative pundit who is attacking Mueller, it’s a partisan hit job.
But consider that Gingrich called Mueller a “superb choice to be special counsel” in May when the Assistant Attorney General made the appointment. It was a statement of respect and trust echoed by more than a few congressional Republicans.
Such reversals seem like reckless hypocrisy. But just as in Clinton’s case 20 years ago, Gingrich’s political spin is a reaction to the opposition’s politically energized speculation. In that regard, it’s less a definitive defense of Trump than a strategy to mollify the party and protect its brand.
I’m not suggesting equivalency between Clinton’s transgressions and the possibility Trump’s campaign colluded with the Russians. And if Mueller does find the president obstructed the investigation for any reason, that will be more serious charge too.
But the judicial process shouldn’t be treated as a spectator sport. For Mueller and his team to be free from pressure from both sides, the media needs to let the investigation proceed in a confidential manner until it’s complete. At that point, wherever the chips may fall, they’ll have months’ worth of material to analyze.
In the meantime, the millions concerned about the fitness of the man in the White House would help us all by redirecting their desperate energy to the nation’s critical issues which are too numerous to list.
• Rich Moniak is a Juneau resident and retired civil engineer with more than 25 years of experience working in the public sector. My Turns and Letters to the Editor represent the view of the author, not the view of the Juneau Empire.
