When Did Fox News Hosts Start to Believe that Not Being a Criminal Was an Acceptable Standard for the Presidency?

Ever since Attorney General William Barr released a four-page letter that cited exactly 101 words from the recently-submitted Mueller report, President Donald Trump and his base have been on an end zone celebration that would make Caligula blush. And no sector of the media has been more vocal in showing their joy in what they see as clear exoneration than the opinion hosts at Fox News.

Recent leaks from members of Robert Mueller‘s team of investigators indicate, however, that there may still be much more politically damaging information that has yet to be revealed. And an ongoing investigation led by the Southern District of New York into many of Trump’s private dealings and businesses indicates that he is far from being free and clear of all legal entanglements.

But even if the Mueller report definitively shows that the actions of the Commander in Chief did not rise to that of criminal behavior, when did that suddenly become the acceptable standard by which we adjudge and support a sitting President of the United States?

If one watches the opinion programs on Fox News, it doesn’t take long to see top-rated television hosts actively deride the investigation and openly celebrate what they clearly see as the huge victory of Trump’s total exoneration. But the facts of the matter suggest it’s far too early to say this story is done and dusted.

We will only know more when Attorney General Barr releases his redacted version of the Mueller report. And even then, depending on how much detail is hidden from the public, there may still be just as many reasonable questions as there are now.

If a new report from the Washington Post is true, and “the evidence they gathered on obstruction was alarming and significant,” then it stands to reason that Laura Ingraham, Sean Hannity, Dan Bongino, and the hosts of Fox & Friends may have jumped the gun on declaring a political victory for the White House. A legal victory (for now) is a reasonable claim, but the political battle is far from over.

And speaking of politics, virtually any talking head on cable news who is defending the administration post-Mueller report summary letter is now dismissing the follow-up as purely a political hit job. But that’s the way Washington D.C. works. President Trump may very well be cleared from any and all criminal conduct, but there is loads of evidence that suggests that he and his team exhibited at best naïveté and at worst incompetence in how they dealt with Russian influence and the investigation into it.

Take this line from an NBC News report that quotes a senior law enforcement official in contact with Mueller’s team:

While Mueller found no coordination or criminal conspiracy, the official said, some team members say his findings paint a picture of a campaign whose members were manipulated by a sophisticated Russian intelligence operation.

Let’s also not forget that Donald Trump repeatedly lied about business negotiations with Russia during his campaign, when details regarding an ongoing Trump Tower Moscow only became public in the past few months, two years after the election.

To be clear, it is very good news that President Trump and his campaign were found not to be complicit in a conspiracy to defraud the American public in coordination with Russia. And the calls of “treason” by some of the more brazen (and ill-informed) talking heads on competitive cable news outlets are getting the mockery and derision they deserve.

Imagine, of course, had President Obama had been cleared of criminal activity in a similar circumstance. It is very difficult to see Fox News primetime programming turn the page so quickly to investigating the alleged conspiratorial investigators.

But the fact that President Trump is not technically a criminal seems a very low standard to accept for the leader of the free world, let alone to celebrate. And perhaps we should know more about what was going on before we turn the page.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.