Ty Cobb Was Right

From a certain perspective—say, Donald Trump’s—the conclusion of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation was a victory for Trump. Mueller delivered his report to Attorney General William Barr, who announced that it had not concluded that the president had committed obstruction of justice or illegally conspired with the Russian government. Trump has repeatedly celebrated that, including in a Tuesday morning tweet exulting, “No Collusion—No Obstruction!”

But it was a perverse victory, with Trump simply climbing out of a hole he had dug. It’s all but impossible to argue that Trump is politically better off than he would have been without the self-inflicted wound of the investigation—prompted by his dismissal of former FBI