By Julia Schwed ’21, Commentary Writer

Now, more than ever, the polarization of Washington D.C. has created a mentality where every issue is seen as “us vs. them.” A good day for Trump is a bad day for Democrats and vice-versa. What is often lost in this partisan battling is any focus on whether it was a good day for the country.  

It would be naive and unrealistic in today’s political climate to expect or even ask that politicians and journalists put aside political differences and pretend as though partisan conflict is non-existent in Washington. Naturally, many events are better for one political party and worse for the other. However, recent events surrounding the Mueller investigation, and his recently finished report, show how our politics have become so intertwined with partisan fights that we can’t seem to distinguish one from the other, even for the good of our country.

Special Counsel Robert Mueller was appointed by Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein in March 2017 to investigate claims of Russian interference in the 2016 Presidential election. Mueller, a former director of the FBI with an impeccable reputation, was asked to conduct a thorough and complete investigation to ensure that our democracy functions as promised, and to hold politicians accountable. His appointment should have been commended by both Democrats and Republicans.

Praise, however, was not President Trump’s response to Mueller’s appointment. Trump was enraged over the prospect of an investigation and fell into what felt like a two-year perpetual tantrum. Trump constantly referred to the investigation as a “witch hunt” by Democrats and abused his power as president by threatening to fire the special counsel. Many Republicans leaders followed Trump’s example and seemed less concerned with whether there was collusion between Russia and the Trump campaign than with discrediting the Mueller investigation.

Democrats are not without blame for how they handled the investigation. While some Democrats said they only hoped for an accurate and thorough investigation, many liberal commentators and politicians made it very clear that they had pinned their hopes for Trump’s downfall on the Mueller investigation finding collusion.

This reaction, from both parties, is a glaring example of what is wrong with how Washington operates. First, Republicans should have encouraged a full and thorough investigation. Once credible allegations of Russian interference had been raised, one would have hoped that the politicians understood that the future and stability of our democratic process is far more important than the possibility of uncovering politically damaging information.

Democrats, on the other hand, should not have been hoping that the Mueller investigation would uncover evidence of collusion between Trump and Russia. While it certainly would be damaging for Trump and the Republican party, it would be far worse for our democracy and the trust we so heavily place on the democratic process.

Like many Americans, I found myself getting wrapped up in the media’s depiction of the Mueller investigation and what the outcome would mean for each party. It is not bad to want Trump out of office; simply, we must understand the meaning and depth behind what we wish for, rather than seeing it through a singularly partisan lens. We should never get to the point where politics have become so polarized that we wish that our president was colluding with an autocratic government and compromising our democratic process, in order to get him out of office.  

So where do we go from here? Eventually, politicians and the public need to learn when it is time to put party aside and move past this partisan war for the sake of the country. In the short term, the media, politicians and the public must change how the Mueller report is discussed. If, as Attorney General Barr suggested, there was no collusion between Trump and Russia, that is not a loss for Democrats, or a win for Republicans; it is a win for all of us. But we cannot forget that Mueller indicted numerous Russians for their role in interfering with the U.S. election, and we all should be extremely concerned about the interference. Furthermore, the full 400 page report, not a four-page summary, must be released to Congress and then to the public, so we can all understand what happened during the 2016 election. Once the report is released we must not lose sight of the fact that Mueller’s investigation was vitally necessary, even if there is no evidence of collusion. There doesn’t need to be a smoking gun to justify the Mueller investigation. Regardless of the outcome, democracy wins when there are independent investigations of credible allegations of wrongdoing.