Pundits were quick to dismiss the Muller testimony last Wednesday. The "bad reviews" pointed to a lack of memorable sound bytes and smoking gun moments. Predictably, Trump declared total victory and downgraded Mueller for giving one of the worst performances in American history. There was chatter about "bad optics." After all, getting Trump for obstruction of justice was a little wimpy in the first place The hope that Mueller would be the new Elliot Ness taking down our modern day Al Capone never quite materialized (or will it). The contrast between Mueller's Establishment disposition and the shameless Trumpists were on full display.
Mueller's background is from a line of doctors, lawyers, military officers - pillars of the Establishment. Mueller attended the exclusive St. Paul's School in New Hampshire where John Kerry was his classmate - they played Lacrosse together. In the Tobias Wolff novel Old School, set at an elite private school in the early 1960s, the young men idolize Ernest Hemingway. His writing influenced their ideas on everything from romance to courage. There's a strong chance Mueller and Kerry both read Hemingway as students - and those books influenced them.
Twitter voices spoke of Mueller as a man out of his time. They're sort of right about that. He's 74 and never sought headlines or the media spotlight. After earning degrees from Princeton and NYU, Mueller volunteered for the Marine Corps and served in Vietnam, earning a Purple Heart and Bronze Star in the service of his country. Afterwards he graduated from the University of Virginia Law School and embarked on a career in law enforcement, becoming an expert on white collar crime and the criminal underworld. From 2001-13 he led the FBI during a tumultuous era, serving under both the Bush and Obama administrations.
It goes without saying the Establishment which groomed Mueller left a mixed legacy, yet one that looks like the height of statesmanship by today's standards. Many tomes have been written on the Eastern Establishment in the aftermath of the Vietnam War. The Wise Men by Walter Isaacson and Evan Thomas is one of the more sympathetic histories, referring to the group of men who transitioned America into a superpower after defeating Fascism. While they were white wealthy men who accrued all the privileges of their class - they also had an ethos of service and loyalty to America that went above partisan politics. The Marshall Plan to rebuild post-war Europe and decision to contain the Soviet Union shaped foreign policy for decades.
When Mueller was appointed Special Counsel to lead the investigation of Russian interference in the 2016 election, his old establishment values were destined to come into direct confrontation with the Trumpers. They repeatedly slurred his name and dismissed the entire investigation as an elaborate hoax. That was on full display during the hearing as well. Those who despise everything Trump stands for (me included) had faint hopes Mueller would pull off a Sherlock Holmes and present overwhelming evidence of the President's high crimes. What happened was for more complicated and dealing with complexity within the 24 news cycle is not the media's strong suit. Perspective comes with time. In reality something did happen with long term consequences. Mueller made it clear the investigation never exonerated Trump (could be prosecuted after leaving office) and that Russian attacks are a real thing and will only get worse, the new normal in Mueller's words. Mueller's curious confrontation with the Trumpers mirrors the contradictions of the current moment. From the get go, Trump and his followers prided themselves on being unprincipled and crude, gleefully tapping into the darkest corners of the America psyche. Their open admiration for Putin's anti-liberal crusade makes them ideal bedfellows. For Mueller and the orphaned GOP "Never Trumpers", such a position would've been unthinkable a generation ago. Mueller's stoic retorts to the GOP grandstanding were tinged with melancholy and quiet defiance.
Obviously the "Mueller will save us" narrative was unrealistic. Does that mean The MuellerReport should be tossed aside? Absolutely not. As time passes, the Report will take on a new resonance. We know the shape of things to come if all this continues. The threats facing democracy are deep rooted and resurgent. Mueller's pursuit of the truth will hopefully not be the last gasp of democracy, but a written record that some still care about the facts.
The 1970s and 1980s were the apogee of the family sitcom: Allin the Family, Little House on the Prairie, Good Times, The Cosby Show, and many more. Among them was Diff'rent Strokes (1978-1986), a sitcom with a contrived, but well meaning, premise. Wealthy and affable businessman Phillip Drummond (Conrad Bain) adopts two African American boys to keep a promise he made to their mother who worked as his housekeeper. The two boys, Willis and Arnold are 13 and 9 and elated about going from rags to riches, but also have mixed feelings about the privileges foisted upon them. Mr. Drummond's teenage daughter Kimberly as played by Dana Plato was also a series regular for the show's run. Early seasons consistently produced good episodes, at least by 70s sitcom standards. They never shied away from controversial issues, the early seasons dealt with busing, racism, class disparity, racial profiling, and identity. Gary Coleman became an instant pop culture sensation and carried the show for eight seasons. Watch Coleman's debut on Good Times and I dare you not to laugh, the kid had real acting chops. Willis was more skeptical and took longer to warm to his new lifestyle so far from Harlem, a recurring theme of the early seasons. As the seasons pass by there's a sense of the doomed liberalism of the Jimmy Carter era morphing into the lopsided Reagan 80s . The progressive sentiments of the early seasons shifted into a Reagan era status quo. Story lines focused on moral issues instead of social ones. Pop Culture references and celebrity cameos also became a bigger part of the show. Much of the focus shifted to Arnold's adventures at school, while Willis is usually seen getting ready for a date or hunched over a desk studying for exams in the latter seasons. In season 5 Mr. Drummond marries a TV Fitness instructor (very 80s) and takes in her young son Sam, obviously there to replace Arnold (now a teenager) as the young jokester. There's something moving in the way a sitcom (as many others of it's time) tried to take on every serious topic imaginable. Bullying. Prejudice. Episodes on sexual predators, drug and alcohol addiction, and every issue on the news were common. Nancy Reagan appeared on the show to tell the kids to "just say no." Muhammad Ali traded insults with Arnold, Kareem-Abdul-Jabaar played a teacher, and Janet Jackson played Willis's girlfriend. The eight seasons are a treasure of pop culture collective memory. Whenever Diff'rent Strokes comes up in conversation, the tragedies surrounding the show's cast members are what most people remember. Dana Plato had a troubled history with the show, reduced to occasional appearances after a pregnancy and a follow up career plagued by drug and alcohol abuse. She passed away in 1999 at age 34. Todd Bridges had many public encounters with the law but managed to get his life together. He's the last surviving member of the cast. Gary Coleman found life after the series especially difficult, reduced to cameos in low budget movies and reality television. To be a TV star in the 1970s was something akin to indentured servitude: movies got all the accolades, but TV stars were the grinders. Long days, financial improprieties, predatory adults, all thankless work for the masses watching the box. Coleman suffered from a kidney condition through the show's entire run, requiring dialysis 3-4 times a day, adds a subtle heroism to how he carried each episode. For its final season Diff'rent Strokes moved to ABC, a shadow of what it used to be. The series farewell deals with Arnold working for the newspaper and breaking a story on a steroid ring at his school. Arnold's discovered a passion for writing - suggesting a follow up series that never happened, sort of a Lou Grant set at a High School. With the third season of Stranger Things now running on Netflix that's set in 1985, there could be no better time to revisit Diff'rent Strokes to satisfy your 80s nostalgia fix. Here's some recommended episodes for beginners: S1E1 - "Movin In" The first episode with Arnold and Willis adjusting to life on Park Avenue. S3E1&2 - "The Bank Job" Two part episode that finds Arnold and Willis taken hostage. Think Dog Day Afternoon as a sitcom. S3E14 - "The Bus" White parents are outraged over forced busing laws to integrate their "safe" schools and of course Arnold and Willis are at the center of it. S5E24 - "My Fair Larry" Andrew Dice Clay shakes up the Drummond household. Enough said. S5E1 - "Arnold Meets Mr. T" Perhaps the most 80s episode ever.
