Republicans' Mueller freakout

The GOP is really coming unglued over the Russia investigation

President Trump.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Image courtesy ROBYN BECK/AFP/Getty Images)

If you're a President Trump loyalist, you have to be paying close attention these days, particularly when it comes to matters having to do with Russia. You never know when on a moment's notice you'll be instructed to cast aside what you've believed for a long time, maybe even all your life. Fortunately, there's a political movement and a media apparatus that are here to guide you through it.

They will only occasionally ask you to make full 180-degree turns; more often, you'll have to take a step to the side of the position you held before, then wait until the next shift comes. So first you might say that the charge that anyone on the 2016 Trump campaign was in contact with Russia is ludicrous. Then you'll say that, sure, they were in contact with Russians, but the conversations were just about innocuous matters unrelated to the campaign, like adoptions. Then you'll have to say that, sure, the Russians were trying to arrange some kind of cooperation, but they didn't have much to offer, so it never happened, and there was no collusion. And ultimately, you'll probably have to say that, sure, there was collusion, but what's wrong with that?

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Paul Waldman

Paul Waldman is a senior writer with The American Prospect magazine and a blogger for The Washington Post. His writing has appeared in dozens of newspapers, magazines, and web sites, and he is the author or co-author of four books on media and politics.