Tag Archives: Robert Mueller

Mueller Demythologized

By Robin Bates | Published: July 24, 2019

Thursday I’ve written a lot about people’s hopes in Robert Mueller, which helps explain the palpable disappointment in his performance yesterday before two Congressional committees. From one perspective, there’s no reason to feel let down. After all, his report exposed one of the great scandals in American history: our president welcomed and encouraged Russian election […]

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Robert Mueller as Jane Bennet?!

By Robin Bates | Published: May 30, 2019

Friday In The Maltese Falcon, Sam Spade explains to femme fatale Bridget O’Shaughnessy why he’s arresting her for the murder of Miles Archer, even though he’s madly in love with her. “When a man’s partner is killed,” he says, “he’s supposed to do something about it.” That’s essentially what Robert Mueller was telling Congress in […]

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Pelosi, Mueller vs. Grendel Trump

By Robin Bates | Published: January 21, 2019

Monday John Stoehr, who edits The Editorial Board, had a provocative column recently that is worth contemplating on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Stoehr argues that sadism is the animating principle of the Republican Party, with Donald Trump being its purest expression. Whether this is in fact true of most Republicans, Trump himself is certainly […]

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Green Knight & the Great Trump Hunt

By Robin Bates | Published: December 19, 2018

Wednesday Donald Trump’s public relations lawyer Rudy Giuliani put on a performance for the ages this past Sunday, reminding me of no one so much as the fox in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Hold on while I explain. Trump often obfuscates to fend off charges leveled against him. If you can cloud the […]

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The Indictment Game Is Afoot

By Robin Bates | Published: December 10, 2018

Monday Former federal prosecutor Ken White channeled Sherlock Holmes while explaining the latest revelations concerning Trump and his associates. The expression memorably associated with the great detective first appeared in “The Adventure of Abbey Grange”:  All three briefs show the special counsel and the Southern District closing in on President Trump and his administration. They’re […]

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Henry Fielding Explains Witness Flipping

By Robin Bates | Published: September 21, 2018

Fielding shows a classic case of a witness flipping on his boss in “Tom Jones.” As a magistrate, he knows what he’s talking about.

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Will “The Fat Man” Sell Out Jared?

By Robin Bates | Published: May 9, 2018

Sounding like a character in “The Maltese Falcon,” Rudy Giuliani declared that Jared Kushner is “disposable.”

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Trump Drama as Sherlock Mystery

By Robin Bates | Published: February 5, 2018

Trump and the Russian investigation resemble the Sherlock Holmes story “The Five Pips.” But is Trump the secret society doing the killing or the panicked uncle marked out for slaughter?

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Bone-Crushing Prince of Dark Days

By Robin Bates | Published: November 2, 2017

Trump regards Special Counsel Robert Mueller as the crows view the owl in Mary Oliver’s “In the Pine Woods: Crows and Owl.”

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