The Mueller Report was finally released Thursday and it will do little to change anyone’s mind about Donald Trump or American politics. This is a testament to our current discourse, which is one part tribalism and one part laziness. The tribalism, of course, is all about defending or attacking “our guy” or “their guy.” Facts rarely get in the way of those most informed by partisan labels. The laziness stems from the shortcuts we take to “inform” ourselves. Instead of reading documents, listening to speeches, examining voting records, and investigating–even mildly–policy alternatives, we search for prophets to interpret the tablets for us. Strangely, the stones, they tell us, say what we wished for all along.

Given this state of affairs, the Mueller Report will likely harden current commitments more than it will change minds. There is enough here to fuel impeachment proceedings if Democrats bend in that direction. Were the roles reversed, I have little doubt Republicans would be distraught, and discussing impeachment, if a Democratic president’s campaign had concrete ties to Russian interests, sought to benefit electorally from those interests, and then lied about the connections repeatedly. The Mueller Report establishes the links and the lies in inarguable detail.

Republicans can claim, probably with a straight face, President Trump did not obviously break the law as he walked the tightrope between the exploitation of a mutually beneficial relationship with Russia on the one side and cooperation and conspiracy with Russia on the other. It is also true, it seems to me, President Trump did not necessarily obstruct justice to the point that it constitutes a high crime or misdemeanor. But this is far from “victory” or “exoneration.”

I have always believed charging the president with obstruction for exercising his explicit Article II powers was a stretch. However, it could be argued Trump’s actions were an abuse of his power. It may not be obstruction to fire the Director of the F.B.I., as Trump did, but if Trump fired three or four people the Department of Justice appointed as Special Counsel to investigate Trump, that would be an abuse of his removal power. Firing Comey, eroding and forcing out Sessions, and undermining the credibility of Rosenstein and Mueller comes close to such an abuse. The great irony, of course, is that Trump’s actual preferences might have doomed him had they actually been carried out. The report declares Trump wanted to fire Mueller, and even asked his White House Counsel, Donald McGahn, to go through the Acting Attorney General to terminate Mueller. McGahn did not obey and determined he would resign if Trump forced the issue. So, if Trump’s own counsel had actually followed his orders, Trump would be more guilty than he appears to be. It was neither will nor integrity that saved Trump, but instead his weakness and inability to follow through.

As I wrote several weeks ago, the Mueller Report confirms one thing more than any other. Our elites are corrupt, but their corruption is tolerated and even championed because we are ourselves corrupt. Mr. Trump has a serial problem with lying. Mueller’s investigation reveals this in painful detail. His habit spread into his interactions with several people during the investigatory process. He encouraged his son to lie. Sarah Huckabee Sanders lied. Flynn lied. Manafort lied. Trump cannot be trusted to speak the truth and his administration is not defined by truth. His Republican supporters seem not to care.

Democrats claimed, for years, that Trump was a traitor and his actions were treasonous. The Mueller Report eliminates this charge. John Brennan, Democrat and former Director of the CIA, was relentless in his insistence that Trump was a traitor. Adam Schiff (D-CA) made his career on such charges and became a media darling during the past 18 months. Bill Maher, yet another comedian Democrats seem to take seriously, says Trump is a traitor regardless of what the Mueller Report says. I hope the Democrats and progressives eventually come to grips with the irresponsibility of such language.

The media, on both sides of the aisle, is a cesspool at the national level. Journalism too often consists of larger and larger echo chambers. MSNBC, CNN, and CNBC have worked feverishly to twist Trump’s record toward evil, while FoxNews, Hannity, Levin, and Limbaugh have worked just as hard to sell Trump as conservative, heroic, and “under assault.” The media is obsessed with Trump, on the right and left, instead of truth. This obsession, though, must be good for business. Les Moonves, who was then C.E.O. of CBS, admitted that Trump and his swirl of passion “may not be good for America, but it’s…good for CBS.” The rush for loyal eyeballs and the tickling of itchy, clicking fingers eclipses every other pursuit for the modern American media. Again, if we, the people, found such practices objectionable, we would not watch, listen, or share, but we do. And the show goes on.

Perhaps it is old news to people, but the part of the Mueller Report that was most staggering was its documentation of Russia’s election meddling efforts. As a card-carrying member of Generation X, this drags me back to the frightening days of my teen-aged youth. I grew up on Red Dawn and Rocky IV. Cold War kids were taught, from birth, to fear and prepare to fight the Evil Empire on the other side of the Iron Curtain. I thought there was a better than average chance I would die either in a nuclear war or on a battlefield littered with Americans and Russians. But then 1989 happened, the Berlin Wall fell, and most Americans simply moved past Russia as a strategic foe. In 2012, Barack Obama savaged Mitt Romney for claiming Russia was our most pressing international concern. The crowd snickered. “That Romney,” everyone said or implied, “is such a square he thinks we are still in the 1950s. Better duck and cover!”

Romney, as of the Mueller Report, is having a last, lonely laugh. As Russia pondered how to sow maximum discord during the 2016 election cycle, it aimed two barrels at America. The first targeted Democratic elites as Russian hackers seized electronic information to discredit Hillary Clinton. The second barrel pointed squarely at America’s soft underbelly–social media. Russians, and interests connected to them, used Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to flood the digital space with strife. False accounts were created, fake events were planned, and “news stories” were pushed to damage Clinton and pump Trump.

The inescapable conclusion from the Mueller Report is that the Russians worked to tilt the election toward Trump not because he was their puppet, but because Putin perceived a Trump Administration would be good for Russia. How corrupt are our parties? Republicans are taking comfort in this outcome and Democrats are disappointed with the results.

The Trump Administration that spills out of the pages of the Mueller Report is deceptive and dysfunctional. As Yuval Levin argues, it is a White House particularly ill-suited to handle a crisis. Our system of government empowers a single executive to react quickly to unfolding threats and challenges. Mr. Trump, it seems, cannot count on his advisors to obey him when his orders rub against their own judgment. While their disobedience may have been for the common good until now, at the moment of decision, who is in charge? Who is accountable to the American people? Who makes the call that sends our troops into battle? Who responds to an act of aggression? These questions, more than tawdry predictions about the state of the 2020 campaign, should chill every American.