Big Red Car here on a sunny Sunday morning. Ahhh, what a day. I have had an opportunity to think about and do some research on Special Counsel Mueller. I am predicting a very hard time for President Trump.
I took the trouble to read about the man, review his education, research his military service including his entire file, read his NFL report, watch some hearings at which he testified, and reviewed some things he had written other than the NFL report.
He is an interesting and complex man. One I would normally admire. In fact, I do admire him.
From that work, I conclude that President Trump is in a world of trouble.
Bottom line: SC Mueller is going to issue a report that will be short of a criminal indictment, but which will serve as grounds to explore impeachment. It is going to be a scathing report.
Who is Robert Swan Mueller III, Big Red Car?
Bob Mueller is a very conventional Republican in the model of George HW Bush, an Ivy League patrician who wears matching pajama bottoms and tops to bed while lying next to his high school girlfriend wife. He is a very conventional man.
Like Bush, he served his country in a dangerous capacity as a USMC platoon commander whereat he was engaged in combat losing half of his platoon to an NVA ambush in which he was awarded a Bronze Star with V (valor) device for his personal actions. In two years, he served with distinction – Bronze Star V, Purple Heart, two Navy/Marine Commendation medals with V. Excellent combat record.
He is not a Trump Republican. It is clear to me that he does not like President Trump on much the same basis that the Bushes do not like the President. They both find him to be a challenge to their traditional values and an oaf.
Mueller is a refined person born of privilege, educated at Princeton. He is both the Deep State and the power elite. He is all that Donald J Trump is not.
Education
Mueller was a preppie – Princeton Country Day when he lived in Princeton, followed by boarding school at St Paul’s in New Hampshire when his family moved to Philadelphia. He was a stud athlete and was admitted to Princeton.
At Princeton, he received a degree in Politics. Remember this. He was interested in politics as a seventeen year old. Princeton (1966) was followed by NYU whereat he studied International Affairs and received his MA (1967). Played college level lacrosse.
After service in Marine Corps in Vietnam, he went to the University of Virginia and received his law degree (1973).
Military Service
Mueller served two years in the military going to the USMC Officer Candidate School to earn a commission, and, then, the Army’s Airborne and Ranger Schools. This last distinction – Ranger School – is an important insight into the man. It is the hardest military training in the US military (BRC went to Airborne and Ranger Schools). Only a handful of Marines are sent to Ranger and Airborne Schools every year. It is a significant distinction. Mueller was a stud.
In Vietnam, he commanded a platoon (approximately 50 Marines) and was in the thick of things. As noted, he received the Bronze Star and other medals.
For those who have ever served as officers, his next assignment is quite insightful – he was the aide-de-camp to the Third Marine Division CG (commanding general). Aides-de-camp are fast burners who are being marked for future high rank. Mueller broke the USMC’s heart by resigning to go to law school.
In Vietnam, Mueller served six months in hard combat and six months as an aide-de-camp. He was very lucky, as he himself has acknowledged.
Work history
Mueller’s work history breaks down as follows:
1. Private practice as litigation associate at Pillsbury, Madison, Sutro – San Francisco; three years
2. Assistant US Attorney, Northern District of California in San Francisco; twelve years, rising to the Chief of the Criminal Division
3. Assistant US Attorney, District of Massachusetts whereat he developed expertise in investigating and prosecuting money laundering, narcotics, public corruption, financial fraud, and terrorism
4. Private practice with Boston based Hill and Barlow; one year
5. US Department of Justice as Assistant to the Attorney General (Thornburgh) and Acting Deputy Attorney General; four years. In this position, he was involved with the prosecution of the Gambino crime boss John Gotti, the Pan Flight 103 Lockerbie case, and the conviction of Panama’s Manuel Noriega. These were very high level cases.
6. Private practice with Boston-based Hale and Dorr, as a partner, defending white-collar criminals; one year
7. Homicide Section senior litigator of the DC US Attorney’s office; three years
8. US Attorney for the Northern District of California; three years
9. Director of the FBI, appointed by George W Bush with a unanimous confirmation, 98-0, by the Senate; twelve years
10. Stanford University lecturer on cybersecurity; one year
11. Private practice as a partner with WilmerHale in Washington; from 2014 until being appointed as Special Counsel.
Mueller had two long term positions – Assistant US Attorney for the Northern District of California and Director FBI. He was at the seat of power at both the DOJ and FBI.
He had eight years of private practice which seems to have been a cushion between stints of government service. He was a prosecutor’s prosecutor, so he probably didn’t like defending alleged criminals.
It would be difficult to describe this man’s career as anything other than a law-and-order prosecutor who knows the inside of courtrooms as well as having been in the most senior of positions with both the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation.
Touchstones
In evaluating what this means vis-a-vis President Donald J Trump, I note the following:
1. Mueller is no Trump supporter. There is nothing to suggest anything other than a very conventional George HW Bush Republican. Trump isn’t a Republican.
2. Mueller’s work on the NFL Investigation — the Ray Rice incident — is a good read. Mueller is a pretty damn stern judge of everyone’s actions. It is a comprehensive report. Mueller is thorough. Read it.
Robert Swan Mueller III, Special Counsel, eating McDonald’s chicken nuggets to try and get into Donald J Trump’s mind. Russian collusion? This is a thorough, tough guy. Doesn’t like chicken nuggets. Doesn’t like Trump. Dresses today like he did in 1966. Same haircut.
3. Mueller was appointed Special Master in the Volkswagen Emissions Scandal which entailed the disbursement of more than $11 Billion in settlements. Again, a job for a stern taskmaster.
4. Mueller was tasked with the Booz Allen Hamilton security review after the massive Edward Snowden leak. He was highly critical of both Booz Allen and the NSA. Snowden was a Booz Allen employee.
5. Mueller was appointed Special Master for the disbursement of almost a Billion dollars worth of settlements in the Takata airbag litigation.
6. When one watches Director Mueller’s testimony in front of Congress during his directorship, one sees a man who does not pay much deference to Congress and who does not suffer fools well. He is a haughty character, but he pulls it off well. That is the combat vet, Airborne Ranger bubbling to the surface. He sees himself as a superior human specimen — well, because he is.
7. He has surrounded himself with men who reflect the bias I note herein — not Donald J Trump admirers — to a degree which is breathtaking. He is neither sensitive nor apologetic about this.
8. Mueller served in the Marines during the Vietnam War. Trump was a multi-times, bone-spurred, draft dodger who hides behind his knee jerk military support bluster to assuage his guilt. You may not get this, but this is a big thing to vets.
9. Mueller and Comey are huge buddies. Do not underestimate this fact.
10. Trump has attacked the FBI. Mueller loves the FBI. If you attack a man’s love, you will feel his wrath. Payback is a MFer.
Bottom line it, Big Red Car
Donald J Trump is screwed.
The Muller report is going to be filled to overflowing with negative information about Trump and those around him. It will go on for 200 pages.
There will be no criminal finding, but there will be enough negative information that a Democrat House could vote out Articles of Impeachment.
Mueller will use the cloak of not being able to indict a sitting President to justify the magnitude and seriousness of the allegations.
Mueller will relish putting President Donald J Trump in his place as a conventional GHW Bush Republican, as a veteran, as a law-and-order guy, and on a personal basis as a member of the ruling power elite.
This guy Mueller – Airborne Ranger, USMC combat veteran, prosecutor – is one tough son-of-a-bitch. He will strike a mighty blow.
One guy is a Vietnam War draft dodger. The other guy is a wounded, USMC, Airborne Ranger veteran. Oh shit! “So, Donnie boy, want to come over and have a chat?”
Oh, yeah, forgot one thing — NO RUSSIAN COLLUSION. Never was any, but it’s too late to get that genie back in the bottle.
But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car.
