Documentary filmmaker Michael Moore has long been associated with the political left. He was a primary figure of hatred from the right during the presidency of George W. Bush, and he directed an anti-Bush film, Fahrenheit 9/11 , in 2004 that remains, to this day, the highest-grossest documentary in history.
Moore has receded somewhat over the years as a major cultural figure, but in 2018 he directed a film critical of Donald Trump, called Fahrenheit 11/9 , with the title referencing the day after Trump’s election in 2016. The film, among other assertions, implied that the president acted lecherously towards his daughter Ivanka, and spliced audio of a Trump speech into footage of Adolf Hitler.
So Moore, on Twitter Wednesday, had a different reaction to former Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s testimony than might have been expected. Namely, he was critical of Mueller.
“A frail old man, unable to remember things, stumbling, refusing to answer basic questions,” Moore said on Twitter.
“I said it in 2017 and Mueller confirmed it today — All you pundits and moderates and lame Dems who told the public to put their faith in the esteemed Robert Mueller — just STFU from now on.”
Moore is a part of the anti-Trump coterie that has long cautioned against relying on Mueller or the Russia scandal for bringing about Trump’s defeat, and his 2018 documentary did not touch significantly on any aspect of the Mueller probe or Russia scandal.
The filmmaker’s tweets drew praise from a corner that doesn’t often praise Michael Moore: Trump supporters, starting with the president himself.
“Even Michael Moore agrees that the Dems and Mueller blew it!,” the president tweeted Wednesday night.
Former Trump White House aide Sebastian Gorka tweeted Wednesday about “Michael Moore’s meltdown.”
. @ryanlcooper has a message for Democrats: Robert Mueller still isn’t going to do your job for you. https://t.co/y9t20ADIUz pic.twitter.com/1zM7QbRULi
— The Week (@TheWeek) July 24, 2019
This was also part of the reaction from the right to Mueller’s testimony, as the 74-year-old former special counsel frequently asked for questions to be repeated and looked confused at times during the hearings.
One Twitter user noted that Moore wasn’t always so Russia-skeptical. In early 2018, the filmmaker had tweeted at Donald Trump, Jr., that both he and Jared Kushner would be taken “away in chains” by Mueller, and that the president would throw his own son “under the bus.” Neither the younger Trump nor Kushner faced any charges from Mueller.
Twitter user @agraybee also compared Moore to other members of the Russia-skeptical left. “Michael Moore is the Michael Tracey of Susan Sarandons.”
It was all enough to get Moore’s name trending No. 1 on Twitter on Wednesday night.