WASHINGTON, D.C. March 25 (DPI) – The long-awaited Mueller Report landed on Capitol Hill with a thud this weekend, an anti-climactic conclusion that left Republicans satisfied that their sitting president has not been indicted.

The report, which started with an inquiry into Russian collusion in the 2016 election and over two years produced criminal charges against 34 people for misconduct unrelated to the initial probe, did not spear the big fish: It did not find evidence of Trump collaboration with the Russians, nor was there sufficient evidence to charge him with obstruction of justice.

Early reactions ran down partisan lines: The right-leaning Wall Street Journal fielded a torrent of comments claiming vindication of the president, with new calls to investigate Obama and Hillary Clinton for various alleged misdeeds.

The Washington Post and New York Times, meanwhile, received thousands of comments focusing on the facts that: 1) Much of the report has not been read yet. 2) Mueller had left open various possibilities of wrongdoing, not simply by Trump but by more of his associates.  3) That media today went too easy on Trump. 4) Mueller was reluctant to trigger an unprecedented crisis by announcing indictable or impeachable offenses.

Indeed, the headline on the NYT site this morning was as conciliatory as any since Trump took office: “A Cloud Over Trump’s Presidency Is Lifted.”

One thing is clear: With the Mueller report not finding hard evidence of wrongdoing, Trump will be more emboldened than ever, and will be likely to face no serious primary challengers to the 2020 GOP nomination.

Among the most popular comments on WashingtonPost.com reminded Democrats that they’ve got a lot of work to do to oust Trump in the next election:

Sheesh. Let’s get some perspective on this.
There was no outright collusion. This is a very good thing. Imagine the mess we would be in as a country right now if Mueller had found otherwise.
The real danger now is that Democrats let Trump control the conversation from here on out and the “No Collusion” argument is allowed to drown out all of the other problems with the administration – any one of which would have sunk any other presidency.
As of this morning… Trump is still a compulsive liar and a racist, immoral, misogynistic bully who cares nothing for America beyond its ability to feed his ego.
Democrats would do well to remind the country that there is a better alternative.