In what appears to be their last trench of defense before throwing away their weapons as impediments to their headlong flight to the rear, the Democrats are trying to claim there is some possible relevance to the Mueller inquisition while distancing themselves from their former Clinton icons. Some are claiming the Russians were meddling in both campaigns, while some of the more energetic Trump supporters are alleging greater and more sinister conspiracies than is plausible.

The best that can be hoped for is the disclosure of the defects of American criminal justice, the disincentivization of the mortally irresponsible practice of criminalizing political differences, and a compromise between civilized continuity of a system in need of repair and a partial evaporation of the swamp. The president, in his way, tried for that in his State of the Union address. The practice of introducing valorous ordinary people was vastly overdone, and the July 4 old-fashioned flag-waving a trifle laborious.