Surviving Autocracy

by Masha Gessen

After twenty-two long months, Mueller’s 448-page report dropped. Under a single cover, it provided the most comprehensive portrait of Trumpism to date. The first half of the report attempted to tell the story of Russian interference and the relationship the Trump campaign had had to it. The opposition’s great hope had been that the investigation would connect the dots evident in earlier indictments and subpoenas, and lay out the story of a conspiracy that would fatally discredit the Trump presidency. But the Mueller report didn’t tie anything together in the end. Rather than tell the story of a single crime masterminded by a single actor or entity, it detailed many hustles, most of them unsuccessful. If anything, the lack of coordination among them was striking, as was the scrappy, almost petty nature of many. The hustlers were Russians and Americans and Russian-Americans, shady lawyers, shadier entrepreneurs, and the shadiest political consultants, and each was out to swindle everyone else. Everyone exaggerated what they knew and could deliver. Everyone lied, and almost no one got what they wanted.

This isn’t a great summation ... but it reads well!