Shortly after William Barr, the US attorney-general, held a press conference to pronounce Donald Trump’s across-the-board innocence, the president tweeted “Game over: no collusion. No obstruction”. Leaving aside the fact that Mr Trump’s meme borrowed from the Game of Thrones — the television drama that centres on a gold-hunting family that keeps its grip on power through fear and foreign alliances — his message offered a poor summary of what was to come.
Two hours later, Robert Mueller’s report was released. From its first page, which identifies “numerous links between the Russian government and the Trump campaign”, to its conclusion that Congress can “permissibly criminalise” a president for obstruction of justice, Mr Mueller’s report merely handed the baton to Congress. It highlights the Russian government’s “sweeping and systemic” operations to tilt the 2016 presidential election in Mr Trump’s favour. The report’s publication marks neither the beginning of the end of the Trump investigations, nor the end of the beginning. It leaves us in the middle of the cauldron.
If anything, Mr Mueller’s conclusion will herald an escalation of the war between Mr Trump and his detractors. It is highly doubtful most Americans will wade through all 448 pages of the report. Nor would doing so necessarily challenge their pre-existing points of view. Mr Trump’s supporters are focusing on the headline conclusion that Mr Mueller found “insufficient evidence” to prove that there was criminal conspiracy between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin. His critics are highlighting almost its entire remaining contents.