America finally heard from Robert Mueller Wednesday morning, and testifying before the House Judiciary Committee Wednesday morning, he seemed confused, flustered, and exhausted.
The 74-year-old former special counsel never wanted to be there—was dragooned into this by Democrats who should have listened when he said that “my report is my testimony.” It was painful to watch the morning drag out over nearly four hours--almost like when an aging boxer, desperate for one more payday, subjects his body to a public beating. Except Mueller was pressed into service.
The rationale for summoning him there was simple. Even if Democrats couldn’t get Mueller to expound on the report, the country would see video of this highly-regarded investigator—whose gravitas and credibility seemed a given—reiterating the damning evidence against Trump.
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What could possibly go wrong?
It turns out that it was much easier for Republicans to grill a tired and reluctant witness than it was for Democrats to build him up.
This is partly because Mueller is a man from another time. He’s a throwback to an era where facts and reason meant more than images and perceptions—where attributes like honor and character mattered more than panache, social media savvy, or being telegenic.
Fair or not, Republicans — even as they kept “asking” questions that they knew that Mueller saw as “outside my purview” and wouldn’t answer—pushed hard to undermine the whole investigation and raise questions about not the president but his prober.
It wasn’t just partisans who could see Mueller’s exhaustion, though, and his efforts to keep his performance from becoming the stuff of partisan TV ads as he refused to even read aloud from his own report. Former Obama advisor David Axelrod said “he clearly was struggling today and that was painful.” And former Democratic Senator Claire McCaskill conceded, “he frankly wasn’t a really good witness.”
In many ways, Mueller’s underwhelming performance was a microcosm of a world where Donald J. Trump could get elected president in the first place. Trump’s rise was at least partly about proving that elites and institutions were impotent and antiquated. In many ways, Mueller’s shaky and halting performance is symbolic proof of this.
Think of it as one more institution that’s given way to Trump.
Democrats thought they were going to put Donald Trump on trial, but Republicans ended up putting Robert Mueller on trial, pressing him every way they could on his decision to flip the burden of proof by releasing a report on a man, the president, whom he’d declined to charge.
We have long been headed toward a world where image matters most. Remember Oliver North, clad in his officer’s Class A uniform with medals pinned to his chest, “winning” the Iran-Contra hearings on image and style?
Donald Trump, despite his age, has embraced and exploited the new rules. Robert Mueller has not.
And because Mueller had remained largely behind the scenes during the Russia investigation, these hearings constitute, for many viewers, something of a first impression.
As such, it is likely that this could define his image.
It’s not fair when this happens. Admiral James Stockdale was a P.O.W. and a medal of honor winner, yet his unusual 1988 vice presidential debate performance—“Who am I? Why am I here?—was lampooned by comedians. He, a real hero, became a national punchline. Perception is reality.
To be sure, Democrats got some of what they wanted—Mueller said Trump could be indicted after leaving the White House and seemed to confirm that the Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) opinion was the reason he didn’t indict Trump—but I suspect that his uninspired performance will outweigh any specific points Democrats technically scored.
Ironically, this could also benefit Nancy Pelosi, as she’s tried to hold the line against her party’s Resistance-impeachment crowd.
More immediately, though, this was a win for Republicans.
Mueller’s low-energy morning performance raised partisan questions about his competence—and invited Republicans to undermine the legitimacy of the Russia investigation. This may be a sad denouement for a man who has earned our respect for decades of service.
As the movie said: You either die a hero, or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain.
