But even if any of those as yet unproven possibilities turns out to be true, it will remain the case that the special counsel was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein—a man that Trump himself nominated to his position. Ninety-four senators voted to confirm his appointment as deputy attorney general. Numerous GOP lawmakers, including House Speaker Paul Ryan, have declared that he ought to be allowed to conduct his investigation. And the public agrees.
A Washington Post survey asked: “A special counsel at the U.S. Justice Department, Robert Mueller, has been investigating possible collusion between Trump’s campaign and Russian govt to influence the 2016 election. Do you support or oppose Mueller investigating this issue?” Sixty-nine percent said they supported the probe as of last month.
The same Post survey asked: “Do you support or oppose Mueller investigating Trump’s business activities?” And 64 percent of Americans said that they supported that.
Fox News found something similar: “About two-thirds, 67 percent in the latest Fox News poll, say it is at least somewhat important the investigation continues, and 56 percent think it’s likely that Mueller’s probe will find Donald Trump committed criminal or impeachable offenses.”
A Harvard CAPS/Harris Poll got like results.
But you’d never know any of that from the Rush Limbaugh Show, which portrays the Mueller investigation as an outrageous, undemocratic usurpation of the people’s will.
That isn’t an exaggeration.
This is nowhere better illustrated than a May 3, 2018, segment that Rush Limbaugh’s web team titled, “Outraged Americans: ‘Let’s March on Washington.’” Here’s an excerpt from the first call:
Rush: Rosemary in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. I’m glad you called. How are you?
Caller: Hi. Why don’t the millions of us who voted for President Trump march to Washington in the biggest protest ever to drive a stake through that vampire Mueller and all his bloodsucking bats and then also march on the mainstream press in New York, millions of us?
Rush: I don’t know. Why don’t you?
Caller: Well, I think it’s a good idea, don’t you?
Rush: I’d love to see it.
Caller: I’d love to see, too.
Rush: I gotta be very careful here. I gotta be very careful not to be seen organizing or suggesting such a thing. Otherwise, if it happens, it will not appear organic. We don’t want ’em to say, “Yeah, this is all happening ’cause Limbaugh’s got his robots doing what he told them.” We don’t want them to say that, so—
Caller: No, I don’t think they could accuse you of that. I think lots of us have the idea that we’d like to do that ’cause, I mean, I really love Trump. He’s saving America.
Rush: You know, you do raise a broader question, and that is as people learn what has been learned since last night with Caputo, Michael Caputo, and essentially confirming what I thought was going on with this thing from the beginning, I wonder how mad Trump voters and others are out there.
Caller: I think that we’re all furious. I mean, everybody I know is, of the conservatives. I mean, they despise Mueller. And I certainly do. I think he’s an evil man. I believe in a hell, and I think that’s where he’s gonna wind up going. That’s one thing about it, he’s gonna spend eternity there being tortured like what he’s doing to President Trump.
Rush: Well, that may well be, but if that happens, nobody will ever know it so you will not have the satisfaction of ever knowing that.
Caller: You’re probably right about that, but it’s nice thinking about it.
There’s a lot to be distracted by in that call.