Like a good book, this report has a solid structure: each section builds on the previous one, if you contemplate the stated facts.
We may think we already know most of the information in this report via the media, but reading the first section account of Russian interference in our elections by affecting our culture is a personal experience unlike hearing news. It is chilling to read about specific Russians masquerading as Americans, setting up organizations and rallies, and sowing lies that bloom and grow exponentially as they are repeated by the likes of Trump et al. as well as millions of ordinary citizens. If you read this blow by blow, you will experience the truth of the words "We were attacked."
Mueller reports facts, but I believe metaphor is the best way to convey the impact of those facts to anyone who doubts we were attacked or to anyone, like me, who accepts that we were attacked (and that it is ongoing), but who hasn't viscerally connected with what this means:
Imagine that alien beings infiltrated all of our communications grids. They became part of our phone conversations, the media we consume, and our culture. Imagine these aliens have studied our American culture and can mimic it, blending in so seamlessly that they can participate in our communities as any local does. They get to know people, learn their vulnerabilities, and craft just the right things to say to trigger their deepest fears and angers, thereby making these Americans unwitting alien surrogates, carrying the carefully crafted messages further into our culture to create maximum conflict (and—my opinion—eventually war, thereby changing the world stage because people will no longer wish for democracy if this is the result). Imagine these aliens infiltrate our voting mechanisms, knowing better than we do how they work and all kinds of statistics about the layout of our electoral college and what kind of pressure and persuasion will work best where.
Imagine that these aliens, who have been preparing for this time for many years, are essentially more psychologically sophisticated beings highly focused on a well-researched mission. They have observed us like cells in petri dishes. And after long preparation, they have now visibly manipulated us for motives that have nothing to do with our well-being and everything to do with destroying our standing in the world and thereby all alliances between countries, allowing them to do what they want unchallenged.
This is what has been going on and The Mueller Report makes you know and feel it!
Following the specifics of the attack is a section on Trump campaign contacts with Russia and Russians. I have no idea how much foreign contact is customary for potential candidates for office, but the enormity and sometimes secrecy of contacts between Trump surrogates, including people like Jared Kushner who had no idea or preparation for what he was doing, and Russian representatives is considerable. I can only assume that the sheer volume of them is yet another manifestation of the stealthy effort to infiltrate, building on the first section of this report—even if Trump did not conspire (offer a quid pro quo for help). Trump's avarice (for business in Russia as a real estate developer) plus his amorality made him the perfect target, and his media megaphone simply turned the disruptive messages into a high-decibel weapon of mass disruption.
Any leader—even one who benefitted from these infiltration actions—should be alarmed for our democracy and our sovereignty. But this is not the case with Trump. I believe Mueller's conclusion that Trump's campaign's actions did not meet the legal definition of conspiracy, although they gratefully received a lot of help that was offered from Russia via WikiLeaks and they even invited it. I accept that indictments against Trump Jr. et al. were precluded because they didn't know that accepting foreign contributions of stolen documents was unlawful, and ultimately they failed to obtain them. But since the facts of this clear and ongoing attack have come to light, there has been an essential lack of a natural life-preserving patriotic response due to Trump's need to see himself as a "winner." Despite the fact that he won the election and holds the office of president, he apparently believes his "win" is so tenuous that he must do anything to kill any reality that makes him appear, in his own eyes, illegitimate.
Hence, vol. II of this report—a blow-by-blow record of his obstruction of justice, provable chronic lies, attempted manipulations, attempts to coerce witnesses by promise or intimidation, and attempts to order other people to lie, along with a roadmap for further action left to congress. (I read this section first, then on the entire document read-through, skipped or skimmed most of it because it repeated information I'd read in the media and in Comey's book, A Higher Loyalty. And I did not read the last section, pp. 371-394, which is an analysis of law, obviously directed to lawyers who Mueller is assuming will take further action. I skipped most of the Appendices, except C which are Trump's answers to questions, which can be summarized as: "I don't recall.")
This is a riveting read, and not that lengthy because of all the redactions. Also, you can skim those sections in the Russia connection section (e.g., Paul Manafort, although his level of quid pro quo and general amorality is jaw-dropping and sure sounds like conspiracy) and skip or read only headlines and analyses for the matters you're familiar with from other reading. For me, the real impact came from the details of the attack in the first section.
To anybody who criticizes this report without reading it, I say: Please, please, please keep quiet until you've read it.
And to anybody—right wingers or left—who dismisses it without reading it because it does not find Trump guilty of conspiracy, I say: You are missing the point! This report was done because our country was attacked by a foreign power, and if you take the time to learn the facts, it might prevent you from falling victim to ongoing infiltration and attack.
Arguably, America's most potent export is our culture—via our movies, music, and television. It has made the USA a place that people want to visit or live. It gives hope to people whose freedoms are crushed, and hope used to give the USA a certain standing in the world, no matter our considerable arrogance and flaws. So it doesn't take brilliance for an adversary to take advantage of our arrogance by supplying zero-sum issues for us to be certain we're right about and erupt in battle over. Marketing companies are filled with psychology experts who target us with similar tactics to sell product. This is not genius; it is simple psychology and marketing being used, after deep research into the mechanics of our system, to disrupt and destroy our culture, dividing people to conquer them. Thus far, Putin has probably been victorious beyond his wildest dreams. (In one of the most intriguing largely redacted exchanges on page 149, an unnamed probably Russian person emails a Russian oligarch just after Trump has won the election: "Putin has won.") And it will get worse for us if we don't understand what's going on. Mueller spells it out. I hope more people will read this report.
For more on the ongoing Russian attack, see my blog We Are Being Manipulated.