Two Lessons Learned from Robert Mueller Testimony

Read Exodus 20:3, Ecclesiastes 4:12

Q: What were two lessons gleaned from former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s July 24th Congressional testimony?

1. Remember God’s 1st Commandment

Politico: “For nearly two years, many Democrats have regarded Mueller as a Messiah figure who will deliver them from the plague of the Trump presidency through something akin to

 divine intervention.”

The presumed impeach-Trump-now slam dunk flatlined; Mueller refused 198 times to answer queries or to read aloud damning segments from his 448-page report.

We, humans, seek unsuccessfully to deify fellow mortals – e.g., MLK, Oprah, Obama, Cosby, Pelosi and now Mueller –  and conversely, try to “mortalize” God. Flip the script, y’all.

Q2: Haven’t we yet learned that false expectations will always lead to resentment?

Solution? Ask “Lady Day”

Billie Holiday’s 1941 classic “God Bless the Child” captured musically Elijah Cummings’ (D-MD) post-Mueller charge: “I’m begging – I’m begging – the American people to pay attention to what’s going on, because if you want to have a democracy intact for your children and your children’s children, and generations yet unborn, you’ve got to guard this moment. This is our watch.”

1. Become #1 @ being #2

Mike Bonem’s book, Leading from the Second Chair: “A second chair leader is a person in a subordinate role whose influence with others adds value throughout the organization. . . .  (who) find much of their success through influence and relationships” (p. 2,3). 

Before his testimony, Mueller last-minute-petitioned successfully to have his longtime aide Aaron Zebley beside him, to advise him from the second chair.

When the GOPs challenged his team – who, Mueller revealed, did most of the investigations – the previous laconic monosyllabic 74-year old lashed out un-scripted: “Can I speak for a second to the hiring practices? We strove to hire those individuals that could do the job. I’ve been in this business for almost 25 years. And in those 25 years, I have not had occasion once to ask somebody about their political affiliation. It is not done. What I care about is the capability of the individual to do the job and do the job quickly and seriously and with integrity.”