Congratulations, Mr. President

Who would have guessed? He was right all along, or at least according to the summary provided by freshly minted attorney general Bill Barr.

Congratulations, Mr. President.

There was “no collusion” but let’s wait a bit before we raise a glass to your “total exoneration.”

For the last 22 months, Trump rallied his base with rants “total witch hunt,” “greatest scandal of American political history,” “fake news” and a raft of other salvos launched to delegitimize special counsel Bob Mueller’s probe into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.

He effectively used the attacks to divert attention from his administration’s multiple shortcomings and to keep his political opponents off-kilter.

Why should the president abandon those successful tactics now as Mueller, who now acted “honorably” in Trump’s view,” walks away from the Justice Dept.

Trump set the stage for more diversionary shenanigans yesterday upon hearing that he was “cleared” by Mueller. “It’s a shame that our country had to go through this,” setting the stage for the punchline. “It’s a shame that your president had to go through this.”

Really?

And right on cue, Trump toady Lindsay Graham wants Barr to appoint a special counsel to investigate whether President Obama abused his executive authority and ordered the FBI to hound the Trump campaign to help his buddy Hillary Clinton.

And speaking of “Crooked Hillary,” why not another go at her emails, though that could potentially endanger Ivanka and Jared.

The head spins at the potential of more special counsel action, which is what the president’s team wants.

Democrats put a lot of faith in the integrity of the special counsel. If the full-report “clears” Trump, they need to move on.

Political gains during the mid-term election happened because Democrats connected with voters on local issues, not because they ran on platforms to impeach the president.

Promises of impeachment may fire up the blood of progressive hotheads, but impeachment is nothing more than a pipe dream with Republicans in control of the Senate.

Trump is going to gear up attacks on the media for “being totally unfair to him” and call for a new round of inquiries

The Democrats shouldn’t fall into his trap.

They should keep their eye on issues such as the tweeter-in-chief’s cozy relationships with Putin, Crown Prince Salman and Little Rocket Man, rocky ties with European allies, Great Wall of Trump, child separation, effort to kill Obamacare, massive tax cut that failed to juice the economy, and climate change for starters.

November 10, 2020, isn’t that far away.