January 26, 2018


News and Views


TRUMP MAY BE RECKLESS OR FOOLISH, HOWEVER YOU SEE IT, BUT NOT ALL OF HIS AIDES ARE. THIS LAWYER CHOSE TO KEEP HIS LICENSE TO PRACTICE LAW, AND MAYBE ALSO CARED ABOUT RIGHT AND WRONG. TRUMP HAS CALLED THIS STORY FAKE NEWS, BUT THE NYT HAS FOUR WITNESSES TO THE FACTS. MORE WILL UNDOUBTEDLY EMERGE OVER THE NEXT DAYS AND WEEKS.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trump-ordered-muellers-firing-then-backed-off-york-015712442.html?soc_trk=gcm&soc_src=433beca8-469f-3942-9fad-a13615dd8aa8&.tsrc=notification-brknews
Trump ordered Mueller's firing, then backed off: New York Times
Reuters • January 25, 2018

FILE - In this June 21, 2017, file photo, former FBI Director Robert Mueller, the special counsel probing Russian interference in the 2016 election, departs Capitol Hill following a closed door meeting in Washington. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik, File)

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President Donald Trump last June ordered Special Counsel Robert Mueller fired but backed down after the White House counsel threatened to resign rather than follow his directive, The New York Times reported on Thursday, citing four people told of the matter.

There were no immediate responses to requests for comment from White House lawyers and press officials.

Mueller, who is investigating allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election, learned of the incident in recent months as his investigators interviewed current and former senior White House officials in an inquiry into whether the president obstructed justice, the Times reported.

Amid media reports that Mueller was looking into a possible obstruction case, Trump argued that the former FBI director had three conflicts of interest that disqualified him from overseeing the probe, two of the people said, according to the Times.

First, Trump said that a dispute years ago over fees at Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, had led Mueller to resign his membership, the newspaper reported.

The president also said Mueller could not be impartial because he had most recently worked for a law firm that previously represented the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Trump also said Mueller had been interviewed to return as the director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation the day before he was appointed special counsel in May, the Times reported, citing the two people.

White House counsel Donald McGahn said he would quit rather than follow through on the order to fire Mueller, the Times reported, citing the people.

(Reporting by Eric Walsh; Editing by Leslie Adler)



THE HEALTH NEWS IS DISTURBING THIS YEAR. THE CURRENT FLU VIRUS IS KILLING SOME IN SEVERAL AGE GROUPS, CHILDHOOD, YOUNG MOTHERS AND BABY BOOMERS. I’M IN THE LAST GROUP, SO I’M GOING TO THE LOCAL WALK-IN CLINIC AND GET ONE, SOON.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/cold-and-flu/baby-boomers-now-second-hardest-hit-group-flu-says-cdc-n841421
Baby boomers now second-hardest hit group in severe flu season
by Shamard Charles, MD / Jan.26.2018 / 4:12 PM ET

SLIDE SHOW: HTTPS://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?V=2QDYGXF1L_4

SEE GRAPH SHOWING HOSPITALIZATION STATISTICS AT THE THIRD WEEK, BREAKDOWN BY AGE – 50 TO 64, 44.2 PER 100,000; 65+ 183.1 PER 100,000; OTHER AGE GROUPS SHOW NOTICEABLY LESS.

The severe and deadly flu season is still getting worse in the US, with adults aged 50-64 being hospitalized for influenza-related illnesses at an unexpectedly high rate, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported Friday.

“Baby boomers now have higher rates of influenza than their grandchildren,” said Dr. Daniel Jernigan, director of the influenza division at the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases.

The 2017-2018 flu season has the highest number of influenza-related illnesses since the 2009 H1N1 pandemic, which peaked in November that year.

In most flu seasons, the most affected groups are very young children and adults over age 65.

In fact, the highest rate of hospitalization was among those over 65, but people aged 50 to 64 are being hospitalized at three times the rate of the 2015-2016 season, the CDC reported.

"People in this age group are often at the peak of their careers and may miss their flu shots, but the H1N1 strain also affects them more than others."

"People in this age group are often at the peak of their careers and may miss their flu shots, but the H1N1 strain also affects them more than others."

The influenza viruses sending 50-to-64 year-olds to the hospital are the H3N2 and H1N1 strains. The H3N2 strain tends to be less affected by vaccination and results in more deaths. The less widespread H1N1 virus seems to hitting baby boomers especially hard, affecting this group twice as much as any other.


RELATED: HERE'S HOW THE FLU VIRUS KILLS SOME PEOPLE SO QUICKLY

“People in this age group are often at the peak of their careers and may miss their flu shots, but the H1N1 strain also affects them more than others,” said Jernigan.

Seven more children died in the week ending Jan. 20, for a total of 37 flu-associated pediatric deaths, although the number may be higher because it takes a few weeks for CDC to gather the information and some deaths may have occurred outside the hospital. "This is probably fewer than the actual," Jernigan said during a conference call Friday.

Unfortunately, the flu season doesn't seem to be ending any time soon.

PEAK COULD LAST SEVERAL MORE WEEKS

For the first time in 13 years of mapping the virus, flu activity is widespread across the entire continental United States at the same time and flu activity has now stayed at the same level at the national level for three weeks in a row, with 49 states reporting widespread activity — two notable characteristics of this flu season, said Jernigan.

Officials predict the illness — which causes fever, chills, a cough, runny or stuffy nose, sore throat, fatigue and muscle aches — will continue to for several more weeks.

While most people with the flu will have a mild illness, it can be severe and even deadly. The CDC recommends that all adults and children get the flu shot, even at this point in the season. The vaccine takes about two weeks to become effective.

“We recommend that everyone get the flu shot to prevent the flu as well as encourage all to wash their hands, cover their mouths, and stay home from work or school if they are experiencing flu like symptoms,” said Jernigan.

Flu emergency: how do you tell a cold from the flu?
01:29

Although final data isn't in, it appears that this year's vaccine will be about 30 percent effective in preventing the flu. Even if a person who's been vaccinated gets the flu, the symptoms will be lessened.

RELATED: INFLUENZA MIGHT BE SPREAD SIMPLY BY BREATHING, STUDY FINDS

CDC officials also noted spot shortages of anti-viral drugs, like oseltamivir (Tamiflu), but the agency is working with manufacturers to replace gaps in the market.

The CDC recommends the use of antivirals for people at high risk of complications — pregnant women, babies, anyone with a chronic disease like diabetes or asthma and the elderly. The earlier in the illness they are taken, the more effective the medications are.

The officials recommended common-sense approaches to preventing the spread of the flu: Stay home if you have symptoms, if possible; avoid people who are sick; cover your cough; wash hands frequently with soap and water; and disinfect surfaces that may be contaminated.



THE TRUMP V MUELLER BATTLE IS STILL GOING ON. HE KNOWS BETTER THAN TO TRY TO OUST HIM, HOWEVER; EVERY TIME HIS LAWYERS CONFRONT HIM, HE BACKS OFF. HE GETS ANGRY AND THREATENS VARIOUS THINGS AND PEOPLE, BUT IF HE MEETS MUCH RESISTANCE, HE WON’T PUSH ANY MORE. THIS IS WHAT I CALL A BLUFF. OTHERS CALL IT A LIE, OF COURSE, BUT AS A FIGHTING METHOD IT CAN WORK – UNTIL EVERYBODY CATCHES ON THE NATURE OF THE GAME.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-reportedly-ordered-firing-of-special-counsel-robert-mueller-in-june-trump-calls-report-fake-news/
CBS NEWS January 25, 2018, 9:12 PM
Last Updated Jan 26, 2018 4:41 AM EST
Trump calls report he ordered Mueller fired "fake news"

President Trump ordered the firing of special counsel Robert Mueller in June 2017 but eventually backed down in a confrontation with the White House lawyer, The New York Times reported Thursday evening. Citing four sources who were told about the incident, the Times reports Mueller ended up keeping his job at the helm of the Russia probe because White House counsel Don McGahn refused to comply with Mr. Trump's request that he order the Justice Department to fire Mueller. McGahn reportedly threatened to quit, at which point the president backed off.

McGahn reportedly told senior White House officials that firing Mueller would be "catastrophic" for Mr. Trump's presidency, and he predicted, according to the Times, that Mr. Trump would never follow through on the order on his own.

In Davos, Switzerland Friday at the World Economic Forum, Mr. Trump called the report, "Fake news, folks. Fake news. Typical New York Times fake stories."

This is the first report of the president attempting to fire Mueller. According to the Times, Mueller found out about the incident over the last few months as his team of investigators interviewed current and former White House officials.

CBS News' Major Garrett confirmed that Mr. Trump raised issues with Mueller's possible conflicts of interest with senior White House staff in the month of June 2017. The Times cited two sources that said that last summer, the president had been making the case that Mueller had conflicts of interest that should have made him ineligible to lead the probe. Those supposed conflicts included a dispute over Trump National Golf Club fees, his work for a law firm that had represented Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner and the fact that Mueller had been interviewed for another stint as FBI director the day before he was named special counsel. Garrett reports that another issue that was discussed was Mueller's friendship with Comey.

During that period last year, Garrett reports, Mr. Trump's inner circle argued against any thought by the president that he could or should do anything about Mueller. Those voices have been reinforced by additions to Trump's legal team who for months have successfully steered the president away from any notion of firing Mueller. These sources told Garrett that Mr. Trump has no intention of doing anything about Mueller, and they suggested that his comments Thursday about being willing to and looking forward to an interview underscore that.

The report comes as Mr. Trump is in Davos, Switzerland, with other global leaders for the World Economic Forum. The story broke in the middle of the night in Davos.

The special counsel's office declined to comment on the Times' report. The story is already causing a firestorm from lawmakers.

Senate Intelligence Vice Chairman Mark Warner, D-Virginia, issued a statement following the report saying that firing Mueller would cross a "red line."

"I've said it before, and I am saying it again: firing the special counsel is a red line that the president cannot cross," Warner said in a statement. "Any attempt to remove the special counsel, pardon key witnesses, or otherwise interfere in the investigation, would be a gross abuse of power, and all members of Congress, from both parties, have a responsibility to our Constitution and to our country to make that clear immediately."

Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Connecticut, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on MSNBC a "constitutional crisis" is looming.

Mr. Trump told reporters in December that he had no plans to fire Mueller.

Investigators have been exploring whether Mr. Trump obstructed justice. The president told reporters Wednesday night that he was "looking forward" to being interviewed by Mueller in the investigation into Russian election meddling and any ties to Trump associates.

"I would do it under it under [sic] oath," and "I would love to do that as soon as possible," the president said. He said that he expects an interview to take place in the next two to three weeks, pending his attorney's approval. Still under discussion is whether the interview can be written questions, as opposed to in-person questioning.

Mr. Trump has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, claiming there was "no collusion" between members of his presidential campaign and Russia.

Last July, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-South Carolina, said there would be serious consequences if Mr. Trump went after Mueller.

"Any effort to go after Mueller could be the beginning of the end of the Trump presidency unless Mueller did something wrong," he told reporters on Capitol Hill at the time.

The New York Times report is sure to be a point of discussion in Davos Friday, and when Mr. Trump returns.

CBS News' Alan He contributed to this report.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



TOHONO O'ODHAM NATION AND THE WALL.

THIS WALL, OR THE SOUTHERN USA BORDER, DIVIDES A NATIVE AMERICAN NATION, WITH SOME OF THEIR RELATIVES ON ONE SIDE, AND SOME ON THE OTHER. IF THERE IS A THICK, HIGH WALL THAT PREVENTS THEIR GETTING THROUGH, THEIR LIVES WILL BE PAINFULLY IMPACTED. SEE THE MONDAY, JANUARY 29 SPECIAL ON THESE PEOPLE. IT SHOWS ON CBS AT 8 PM, 11 PM, AND 2 AM. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO CARE ABOUT HUMAN ISSUES, LOVE ANTHROPOLOGY, ADMIRE THE TENACITY, BEAUTY AND TRUE GRIT OF THE AMERICAN INDIANS, YOU MAY WANT TO WATCH THIS SHOW. I PLAN TO TRY TO CATCH IT.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/the-wall-a-nation-divided-preview/
CBS NEWS January 26, 2018, 5:57 PM
The Wall - A Nation Divided

Watch the new CBSN Original: "The Wall | A Nation Divided" on CBSN this Monday, January 29, at 8 p.m., 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. ET.

President Trump has requested $25 billion to build a wall that he says will secure our southern border. His critics say it's unnecessary, that the border isn't as porous as some might think. The reality on the ground is far more complex.

In some areas of America, the southern border doesn't just separate two countries, it also cuts a nation in two. The Tohono O'odham Nation reservation straddles the Nevada/Mexico border. Up to a point, the border is a sturdy metal fence, but for much of the Tohono O'odham nation, it's a ramshackle barbed-wire-and-sticks fence — if it exists at all. And for some people, that's just fine.

Exploited by smugglers and other border-hoppers, the Tohono O'odham people are conflicted. A solid border wall would mean their lands are not abused for criminality, but it would also split families in two, families who cross back and forth across a border they only barely recognize, and threaten a way of life that predates the United States. They see themselves as custodians of a land that the government would eagerly draw a line through.

"CBSN Originals" visits the Tohono O'odham people, and their neighbors in law enforcement, to see what a new border wall would do. Would it put an end to a constant game of cat and mouse and make America more secure, or needlessly tear a nation in two?

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.


HERE IS ANOTHER TERRIBLE TRAGEDY. THIS OCCURRED IN OUR ALLY NATION, SOUTH KOREA. OVER 30 PEOPLE WERE KILLED. OUR THOUGHTS ARE WITH THEM.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/deadly-hospital-fire-south-korea-sejong-hospital-miryang-today-2018-01-26/
CBS/AP January 25, 2018, 9:38 PM
Hospital fire breaks out in South Korea, kills more than 30

PHOTOGRAPH -- Smoke rises from a burning hospital in Miryang, South Korea, on Fri., Jan. 26, 2018. REUTERS

SEOUL, South Korea -- A fire swept through a hospital in southeastern South Korea on Friday, killing more than 30 people and injuring dozens in one of the country's most deadly fires in recent years. Fire official Choi Man-wu said in a televised briefing that the fire at Sejong Hospital in the city of Miryang killed 31 people and injured 77, eight of them in critical condition.

The fire started from the first floor of the hospital at 7:35 a.m. and was extinguished at 10:26 a.m., Choi said. The cause of the fire is under investigation.

He said a total of 194 people had been hospitalized in two buildings of Sejong Hospital, including 94 elderly people who were hospitalized in the nursing hospital, before the fire broke out.

"The victims came both from the hospital and the nursing home. Some died on their way to another hospital," BBC News reports.

hospital fire, Miryang South Korea
A firefighter walks out of a burnt hospital in Miryang, South Korea, on Fri., Jan. 26, 2018. REUTERS
Sejong Hospital has a nursing hospital for the elderly and also offers regular medical services.

South Korea is one of the fastest-aging countries in the world and has many nursing hospitals, which are preferred for elderly people who long-term doctors' care.

Yonhap news agency says the hospital has 193 beds including 98 beds for the elderly who needs nursing care with 35 medical staff.

BBC News writes that South Korean President Moon Jae-in is currently holding an emergency meeting to discuss ways of dealing with the fire, said spokesman Cheong Wa Dae.

Miryang is about 168 miles (270 km) from the capital, Seoul.

In late December, 29 people were killed in a fire that tore through an eight-floor building in the city of Jecheon in central Seoul. It was the country's deadliest blaze over the past decade before the hospital fire.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.



IS IT POSSIBLE THAT IF REPUBLICANS DON’T HAVE A REAL SCANDAL, THEY START ONE? IT WAS WEIRD ENOUGH THAT EMAILS WERE “MISSING” (NOW THEY STATE THAT THOSE SAMSUNG PHONES DID NOT PROPERLY RECORD AND RETAIN MESSAGES) BUT THAT TECHNICIANS HAVE RESTORED THE INFORMATION.

ONE BIG PARANOID FUROR IS OVER, PERHAPS, WITH THAT DISCOVERY; BUT NOW THIS “SECRET SOCIETY” STORY HAS BUBBLED UP FROM THE OOZE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POND. THEY SHOULD HAVE IMMEDIATELY CORRALLED PAGE AND STRZOK AND QUESTIONED THEM DIRECTLY ABOUT THE “SECRET SOCIETY.” IF IT CAN BE PROVEN DEFINITIVELY THAT THERE IS NO SUCH SOCIETY WITHIN THE FBI, PERHAPS THIS STORY WILL DIE DOWN AS WELL.

THIS DOES VERY MUCH LOOK TO ME AS THOUGH THE GOP IN THEIR “WORKING” TOGETHER ARE NOW SPREADING UNSUBSTANTIATED RUMORS, PERHAPS NOT JUST ABOUT A “SECRET SOCIETY” WHICH WAS MENTIONED ONCE IN AN EMAIL; BUT ALSO, FOR FEEDING SOME OF THOSE INTERNET LIE FACTORIES – SUCH AS BREITBART -- THOUGH IT VERY POSSIBLY WAS “JUST A JOKE.” NO NOTICEABLE SENSE OF RESPONSIBILITY THERE.

YET THIS REPUBLICAN JOHNSON TALKED ABOUT IT AS THOUGH IT WERE REAL ON FOX NEWS, AND THERE’S NO BIGGER SPREADER OF PURE GOSSIP THAN FOX. THEIR MANTRA, “ALWAYS FAIR AND BALANCED,” IS ITSELF A JOKE. I MADE SOME COMPUTER-GENERATED STATIONERY SEVERAL YEARS BACK THAT SAYS AT THE TOP, “ALWAYS FAIR AND BALANCED, TOWARD THE RIGHT.” JOHNSON SHOULD BE SANCTIONED FOR SPREADING DAMAGING RUMORS. I’VE NEVER LIKED MOST REPUBLICANS MUCH, BUT I’M LIKING THEM LESS AND LESS EVERY DAY.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/top-gop-senator-switches-gears-says-fbi-secret-society-might-be-a-joke/
By KATHRYN WATSON CBS NEWS January 25, 2018, 5:17 PM
Top GOP senator switches gears, says FBI secret society text might be a joke

Sen. Ron Johnson admitted Thursday it's "entirely possible" the mention of an FBI "secret society" in a text — a text that has spawned far-reaching conservative theories and something he himself had suggested had substance to it earlier in the week — was a joke.

Johnson, the Wisconsin Republican chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, suggested to reporters Thursday that a text between then-FBI agents Lisa Page and Peter Strzok mentioning a "secret society" may not be all that conservatives — himself included — thought it was. Only the day before, Johnson, appearing on Fox News, said he had heard from "somebody who has talked to our committee that there — there is a group of individuals in the FBI that was holding secret, off-site meetings." Rep. Trey Gowdy, R-South Carolina, first raised concerns over the "secret society" text earlier this week, after the Justice Department delivered thousands of texts between Page and Strzok to Capitol Hill last week.

The text, CNN reported Thursday, referred to joke gift calendars featuring Russian President Vladimir Putin.

"Are you even going to give out your calendars? Seems kind of depressing. Maybe it should just be the first meeting of the secret society," Page wrote to Strzok in the text message, which was first reported by ABC News.

GOP members' talk of the text only heightened conservatives' concern over anti-Trump texts Strzok and Page exchanged. Those texts ultimately led to Strzok's removal from special counsel Robert Mueller's team. News that the Department of Justice was missing texts for a five-month period between Strzok and Page prompted concern about operations at the FBI. The DOJ's watchdog recently acknowledged Thursday that it has recovered at least a portion of the missing texts between the two through forensic tools.

Texts between Strzok and Page, however, haven't been the only ones missing. According to a senior DOJ official, thousands of FBI-issued Samsung 5 phones had a technical glitch that resulted in a failure to preserve texts.

Johnson told reporters Thursday he is reserving judgment about the "secret society" text until he sees the texts.

© 2018 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved.



CHECK OUT THIS NEWS ARTICLE. THERE IS A PHOTO HERE OF DONALD TRUMP THAT I DON’T WANT TO THINK ABOUT. IT’S PROBABLY JUST AN EXPRESSION HE MAKES WHEN HE IS THINKING ABOUT SOMETHING, OR STIFFLING A SNEEZE. MAYBE HE IS PRACTICING FACIAL ISOMETRICS. OR POSSIBLY, HE IS ABOUT TO CRY. IF SO, HE WILL HAVE TO QUIT CALLING CHUCK SCHUMER “CRYIN’ CHUCK.”

ALL KIDDING ASIDE, HOWEVER, THE ARTICLE ITSELF IS VERY DEEPLY INSIGHTFUL. TAKE SOME TIME AND THINK ABOUT IT AS YOU READ. WE ARE IN A TRUE CRISIS OF NATIONAL PERSONALITY AND CONSCIENCE, AND THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS COMPLICIT IN THE ASSAULT BY TRUMP AND HIS INNER CIRCLE. THEY HAVE AIDED HIM BY TRYING TO DEFLECT THE MUELLER INVESTIGATION, DEPRIVE IT OF CERTAIN EVIDENCE, AND EVEN DISCREDIT MUELLER HIMSELF.

“TRUMP’S ASSAULT ON COMMON DECENCY IS THE TRUEST TEST OF OUR NATIONAL COMMITMENT TO TRUTH. WHATEVER MUELLER FINDS, HE FINDS. BUT THAT IS OUT OF OUR HANDS. WHAT WE CONTROL IS OUR COLLECTIVE COMMITMENT TO MORALITY AND ETHICS. WHEN THAT IS LOST, SO ARE WE.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/25/opinion/trump-russia-investigation-mueller.html?mabReward=ART_CBD1&recid=0zevyd73gSqwBC2XXnDM1cpve3Q&recp=1&moduleDetail=recommendations-1&action=click&contentCollection=Opinion®ion=Footer&module=WhatsNext&version=WhatsNext&contentID=WhatsNext&src=recg&pgtype=article
Opinion | OP-ED COLUMNIST
Soul of a Nation
Charles M. Blow JAN. 25, 2018

Photograph -- President Trump in the Oval Office on Tuesday. Credit Doug Mills/The New York Times

The past few days have seen a flurry of news about the Robert Mueller investigation: who has been interviewed (Attorney General Jeff Sessions), whom Mueller plans to interview shortly (Donald Trump) and the seeming focus of Mueller’s inquiry (obstruction of justice).

Concurrently, Trump and his allies have continued to attack the credibility and authority of the F.B.I. and the media, attempting to pre-emptively discredit any charges Mueller may file and any finding he may make public, as well as the media that would herald those charges and findings.

Furthermore, Trump constantly says that there was no collusion with the Russians because, as I am sure he has been told by his attorneys, collusion is not a crime and therefore would not be one of Mueller’s charges. And the Republican-led inquiries in the House and Senate would move heaven and earth to prevent an affirmation of collusion from being included in a final report.

This will encourage the Trump team to more forcefully make this argument: They looked for collusion and didn’t find it, so they fished around, on a politically motivated mission, to find anything they could.

This would be a twist of the truth, but that is par for the course in these times, with this administration.

It is clear from what we already know that there was an appetite in the Trump camp to accept whatever help they could get from the Russians. It is clear that there were a disturbing number of undisclosed meetings with Russians. It is clear that there are some incredibly curious coincidences of timing between activities by the Russians and activities by the campaign.

We know that Trump has always hated the F.B.I. investigation into Russian activities in the election. We know that people in the Trump campaign lied to the F.B.I. We know that Trump himself said that the Russia investigation was on his mind when he fired the F.B.I. director James Comey. We know that he is furious at Sessions for recusing himself from the matter, thereby paving the way for the appointment of Mueller.

We know that Trump also hated the acting F.B.I. director Andrew McCabe, and The Washington Post reported this week that shortly after Trump fired Comey, he summoned McCabe to the Oval Office. He asked McCabe for whom he had voted in the 2016 election and then dressed him down about money his wife (who ran for office in Virginia as a Democrat) received from “a political action committee controlled by a close friend of Hillary Clinton.”

The list goes on. You and I have no idea what Mueller has. Trump may have a better idea, but even he doesn’t know the totality of the cards Mueller is likely to play. All that said, it is still not clear to me how any of this will shake out.

Regardless of how it does, it is important to keep two things separate. The first is outrage: Our election was attacked by a foreign power and Trump did not defend our nation or even fully acknowledge the attack, because it benefited him and he feared that acknowledgment would besmirch his brand.

The second is Trump’s complete unfitness for office based on his character and his unrelenting assault on morality, ethics, truth, norms and decorum.

The first issue is about the sovereignty of a nation, but the second is about the soul of a nation.

It is the damaged soul that worries me most. For instance, we have recently become aware of allegations that Trump had an affair with a porn star named Stormy Daniels — soon after his third wife gave birth to his fifth child, no less — and that he paid her $130,000 in hush money shortly before the election so that the dalliance would not be disclosed.

As any regular reader of this column knows, I am no prude when it comes to sexual liberty, and I am not one who relishes exploring the details of marital indiscretion. But you also know that I loathe hypocrisy. In this case, it’s not about the sex but about the cover-up and the political double standard.

If this were Barack Obama, Tiki-torch-toting Nazis would have descended on the White House and burned it to the ground. Not only that, America’s racist folks masquerading as religious folks would have used Obama’s moral failing as proof of a black pathology.

The opposite has happened: Prominent conservative evangelicals like Ralph Reed and Robert Jeffress have basically given Trump a pass.

The whole thing feels like a firecracker exploding in a nuclear war. This is simply testament to just how thoroughly Trump has outstripped our capacity for outrage. Trump’s assault on common decency is the truest test of our national commitment to truth.

Whatever Mueller finds, he finds. But that is out of our hands. What we control is our collective commitment to morality and ethics.

When that is lost, so are we.

I invite you to join me on Facebook and follow me on Twitter (@CharlesMBlow), or email me at chblow@nytimes.com.

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