My abysmal "mood" — a euphemism that respectfully substitutes for what I call my Moriarty: infrequent, but recurring, evil depressions — just vastly improved. With the special counsel's submission of his concluding report to the attorney general, we are now one lunge closer to knowing, with legal certainty, the many crimes of Donald J. Trump.
The president's obstructions of justice have always been plain to see, most notably his confession to NBC News' Lester Holt that he sacked an FBI director to evade further investigation of his illicit shenanigans with Russian intelligence. The same for witness tampering, as evidenced by veritable caravans of threatening presidential tweets aimed at intimidating those with material knowledge of executive corruption.
No new indictments — more than three dozen to date — from the special counsel's office are expected, but that news is no cause for disappointment or sorrow. Mueller has farmed out future prosecutorial actions to other federal officials, and, given Trump's tentacled malfeasances, future prosecutorial actions there shall be. Don Jr., especially, is a deadhead walking.
I have taken it as a near presupposition that we'll all be able to read Mr. Mueller's full report, and rather soon. Two years of suspense; an airtight, non-leaking special counsel operation that has left us hanging; tremendous public pressure and stentorian Democratic congressional demands will convert Attorney General Barr's rather casual attitude toward the question of release into an unbearable imperative. After all, the president himself has said he's fine with the public reading the report — a characteristically cretinous Trumpian remark that will haunt Mr. Barr.
In Shakespeare's Richard III, King Edward IV's wife, Queen Elizabeth, spoke eloquently (though with "gentle," mistakenly) of Trump's predicament at the slashing hands of Bob Mueller: Ay me! I see the ruin of my house. / The tiger now hath seized the gentle hind.
Next, from other federal and state prosecutors, will come charges of tax evasion, charitable foundation fraud, money laundering, and God only knows what. Who needs collusion?