In modern American life, the list of officials and political figures who’ve enjoy broad and bipartisan support is vanishingly small, but Robert Mueller was on it. Journalist Garrett Graff summarized, “Bob Mueller might have been the last person in the US government that both parties agreed upon and respected beyond reproach.”

He earned that reputation over the course of many years. From his tenure as a decorated Marine combat veteran, to a distinguished career as the FBI director (appointed by Republican George W. Bush, then re-appointed by Democrat Barack Obama), to serving as the special counsel in the investigation into the Russia scandal following the 2016 election, Mueller lived a life worth celebrating.

Donald Trump, however, didn’t quite see it that way. After Mueller passed away on Friday at the age of 81, the incumbent American president responded in a uniquely Trumpian fashion.

“Robert Mueller just died. Good, I’m glad he’s dead,” the Republican wrote in a message published to his social media platform. “He can no longer hurt innocent people!”

The written statement was jarring to the extent that it offered a fresh reminder about Trump’s indecency, classlessness and fundamentally twisted character, though it was not too surprising. After all, the president’s ugly public reaction to filmmaker Rob Reiner’s death three months earlier removed any lingering doubts about Trump’s capacity for crude offensiveness.

What’s more, the Republican incumbent has a political incentive to continue his assault on the former special counsel’s findings: Mueller and his report made it unambiguously clear that Russia interfered in the U.S. presidential election in 2016, specifically because of the Kremlin’s desire to help elevate Trump to the White House. Mueller similarly found that Trump’s political operation was aware of Russia’s interference, expected to benefit from Russia’s interference and took a series of deliberate steps to obstruct the federal investigation into the scandal.

But in the wake of Mueller’s passing, there’s one element that the president appears to have forgotten.

After the Mueller report was released, Trump relied on a cynical, albeit familiar, strategy: The president, partway through his first term, assumed that much of the public wouldn’t actually read the lengthy document, so he could fool many Americans into thinking Mueller’s findings were actually good news for Trump and his allies.

Though these details were largely forgotten, in March 2019, Trump agreed that Mueller served “honorably” as the special counsel, and soon after, the president told reporters, referring to a document he clearly had not read, “The Mueller report was great. It could not have been better.”

Six years ago this week, the Republican published a tweet in which he said the Mueller report had led to his “total EXONERATION.”

He was clearly and unambiguously lying, but the point at the time was simple: Trump hoped to convince Americans that Mueller had delivered a victory for the president and his political operation.

Six years later, the question for the White House is simple: If Mueller “exonerated” Trump, and Mueller’s findings “could not have been better” for the president, why is Trump celebrating Mueller’s death?

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