A great incumbrance.

AP Photo/Cliff Owen

“The glory which is built upon a lie soon becomes a most unpleasant incumbrance.”
— Mark Twain

The words of Mark Twain will never ring more true than they will ring for Democrats and the mainstream media.

The lie, as many of us have known, is that Donald Trump somehow stole the 2016 election by means of “collusion” with the Russians. As Hillary Clinton put it, Donald Trump was “Putin’s puppet.” Of course, political candidates lie all the time and no one would be talking today about any of Hillary’s lies had not one of them been used as the predicate for obtaining a surveillance warrant to spy on the Trump campaign. Opposition research that is pretty much par for the course in politics was trumped up (you’ll pardon the expression) into legal probable cause to assert that national security was at risk.

It was all a monstrous lie. Former FBI Director James Comey knew it. Former Deputy Director of the FBI Andrew McCabe knew it. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein knew it. And former Attorney General Sally Yates knew it. Yet the deliberate advancement of that lie set off a chain of events that led to the 22-month long Mueller investigation.

OK, fine. Let’s grant all the latitude in the world and simply say “Dems will be Dems,” (all while trying to remember that top law enforcement officials should never be partisan).

But the media is “objective,” right? They report the facts. They call balls and strikes. They have no position save for the truth. Right?

If only it were so. Listen to two years of coverage of the Mueller investigation montaged into 60 seconds.

They were so certain. They spoke with one voice – most of the time using the exact same words and phrases.

And then the Mueller report came out and it all indeed became a “most unpleasant incumbrance.” For the Dems and those high-ranking DOJ employees who knowingly advanced a lie, the incumbrance could rise to criminal prosecution.

For the media, the incumbrance is credibility that has forever been forfeited.

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Paul Gleiser

Paul L. Gleiser is president of ATW Media, LLC, licensee of radio stations KTBB 97.5 FM/AM600, 92.1 The TEAM FM in Tyler-Longview, Texas.

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10 Responses

  1. Buddy Saunders says:

    The Democrats AND the media knew from the outset that the Russian collusion claim was a lie, a lie they themselves fabricated. Lies cannot be proven as proof never exists for something that didn’t happen. But proof and truth didn’t interest the the Democrats. They knew their media arm, CNN, MSNBC, the NY Times, etc. would eagerly run with that ball. The aim from the beginning wasn’t to prove the impossible; it was simply to damage as long as possible the Present and his agenda, an effort that included the shameful destruction of innocent people unfortunate enough to be with in the Trump orbit. In the beginning, I thought Mueller was a decent man, but in the course of events it became clear that he is no better than the lowest Democrat or liberal media voice, and that’s pretty low indeed. Mueller was equally desperate to undo President Trump. In the end, Mueller had no option but to report that he found nothing, but he worded that finding in such a way as to give the anti-Trump crowd wiggle room to claim the President had not been truly vindicated. The swamp has plenty of scum.

  2. R. Eagleman says:

    The Democrats and media seek an apology from President Trump for his insistence that the Mueller investigation was a hoax/ witch hunt? He should be ashamed for saying that the investigative team was biased? He should recognize that Mueller was indeed an honorable man, since he was exonerated by him? Give me a break! If Mueller were an honorable man, he would have refused to accept the position of Special Counsel, due to President Trump recently denying him the position of F.B.I. Director. If Mueller were an honorable man, he would not have assembled such a biased and ethically challenged team. If Mueller were an honorable man, he would not have used such aggressive tactics to intimidate and bankrupt people he thought would fabricate something that would criminalize President Trump. If Mueller were an honorable man, he would have announced the exoneration within a couple of months, rather than extending the persecution over a couple of years. This prolonged investigation unnecessarily created major anguish and distraction, not to mention adversely affecting the mid-terms. No, in my opinion, Mr. Mueller’s conduct was not honorable, and I think that history will not be kind to him, the Democrats, the media, and those in the top positions of the C.I.A. and the D.O.J. There is no honor in finally admitting that you were unable to frame someone who was innocent! There may be one other individual who will be revealed as a key part of this whole sordid period of our history….our beloved 44th president of the United States!

  3. Ron Eagleman says:

    Thanks Buddy, You are correct Holland; if #44 were investigated for 22 months and his AG issued an executive summary of 31/2 pages as an interim report, it would be no “biggie” for most fair-minded individuals. Just think of the uproar from the left that would occur if the long awaited results of the complete Mueller report had been delayed until all of the necessary redaction completed. Can you imagine the left’s outrage if grand jury testimony, intelligence information, and other legal restrictions were not in compliance with the law that governs such reports? I have no doubt that these same scoundrels would be demanding that AG Barr be charged with crimes associated with such transparency. What idiot would think that the executive summary would not accurately represent Mueller’s findings, since the complete report would be forthcoming? Was AG Barr so stupid as to think that Mueller would not refute a misrepresented executive summary? I expect that the report that is due out around the 15th of April will be as unwelcome for Trump haters as that infamous date has for taxpayers.

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