Robert Mueller - and a REEEEEAAALLY LONG Long Game?
Something just occurred to me, watching the news coverage start heading back to Mueller-Land.
The talk and attempted dot-connecting includes Mueller's remarkably lenient treatment of Michael Flynn. Mueller's sentencing statement has a whale of a lot of redactions, which raise suspicions on their own. But there's that strong endorsement of how cooperative Flynn has been with all their investigations - at least three that we know of, one of which IS a CRIMINAL investigation. For coughing it up and telling the truth. Which I don't think Mueller would be feeling so generous if he hadn't had multiple opportunities to verify whatever came out of Flynn's mouth. What Flynn has shared with him must have passed the honesty test, multiple times. AND the smell test. I'm not a lawyer but even I can tell, from this, that Flynn must have coughed up A LOT. And of a high quality, too.
This recommendation, from Robert Mueller, seems an awful lot like a reward for good behavior. Or in this case, a VERY sweet reward for some EXQUISITELY good behavior. He must have given Mueller the keys to the car, the garage, the whole mansion, the grounds, and the whole freakin' neighborhood. To get this kind of Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card! For this level of offense and criminality that was also outlined in the Mueller statement. It evidently packed such a punch that it begat two additional investigations, again - one of them criminal.
Is there a message here - to future Executive Branchers (or beyond)? To future Presidents and wannabe Presidents? To the rest of the federal government? DON'T LIE. And DON'T think you can lie your way out. Tell the TRUTH. It's to YOUR advantage to tell the truth. Truth is good. Truth is REWARDED. That would be a helluva statement, planting a flag on a page of American history to illustrate beyond any doubt the value of telling the truth. What a way to underscore a moral to the story: Lie and fuck around like Paul Manafort has, and you ARE facing prison for the rest of your life. Tell the truth and help the prosecutors and you really could get a Get-Out-Of-Jail-Free card. Seriously.
A cautionary tale for the ages, seems to me. Perhaps, a message to future politicians who are tempted to game the system.
Thoughts?
= new reply since forum marked as read
I understand the need of a Mueller to tempt other guilty parties to come forward and tell the truth about the 2016 debacle. This is a complex case and involved many players.
However, the idea of General Flynn walking free sticks in my craw because the man deserves a jail sentence for his treachery, a man who vowed to serve and protect but then acted out of vindictiveness (his dismissal at the hands of President Obama), cozied up to Putin and his operatives, involved himself in plans to kidnap an American resident and worked a plan to score big with a nuclear deal in the Middle East. All in support of a Russian asset--the Trumpster.
As I said over at TPM, the American public will need to be thoroughly informed about the details on all these compromised individuals. I would prefer sooner rather than later but I agree Mueller is obviously looking at the long-game, bit by bit dismantling the conspiracy and shaping a narrative.
Or as someone reminded me today: How do you eat an entire elephant?
Obviously not in one gulp but with careful, individual forkfuls.
Washing those bites down with wine might help. 
I'd like to see them all locked up. However, if Flynn skating means damning and irrefutable evidence against the WH Crime Family then I'll swallow the bile and move on.
Still. A three-star general, a man who led rallies of 'Lock Her Up!', all the while selling out his own country to foreign adversaries.
