If Merrick Garland Doesn't Charge Trump and His Coup Plotters, Our Democracy Is Toast

[LymphocyteLover]

https://www.thedailybeast.com/if-merrick-garland-doesnt-charge-trump-and-his-coup-plotters-our-democracy-is-toast

The Department of Justice announced this week that it would crack down on airline passengers who throw tantrums. Now, if Attorney General Merrick Garland would only get around to doing something about people who plot the overthrow of our government and a former president who’s serially obstructed justice and abused power we might be getting someplace.

Not that in-flight safety isn’t important. It is. Just like it’s important to arrest and prosecute the moron Trumpist foot soldiers who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6. All that is important. But it is not enough.

President Joe Biden may get everything else right but if his administration—starting with the Department of Justice—gets wrong its response to the threats to our democracy posed by Trump and the GOP, nothing else they do may matter.


A widely respected jurist, Garland was picked by Biden to depoliticize the DOJ and end the abuses of its power we saw under Trump appointees Jeff Sessions and Bill Barr. Certainly, he has made some strides in that direction. But if the result of his de-politicization is tiptoeing around the egregious serial wrongdoing of the leaders of the Republican Party, then his efforts will have exactly the opposite of the intended effect. By failing to hold Trump and Co. accountable, Garland will set the stage for them to continue unabated their efforts to turn the U.S. into a one-party state in which only Republicans can win elections and any tactics they may use to hold on to power will have been effectively validated by the inaction of Garland and his DOJ.

[LymphocyteLover]

1. A good related twitter thread from the author

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1464958611008987141.html

[FoxNewsSucks]

2. Rothkopf was on CNN about an hour ago

CAn't argue with the truth of his writings.

He also mentioned a couple things that we have brought up here. Mueller left multiple obstruction charges waiting for MF45 to not be a "sitting" president because of that stupid policy. Mueller stated he would indict if not for that stupid policy. Cohen went to jail for crimes that MF45 was provably involved in.

Nothing has been done with either.

Yeah, yeah, we have to be "patient", but for fuck's sake why hasn't anything been done about this easy low-hanging fruit that the whole world can see??? Bring the other charges later.

[LymphocyteLover]

6. Exactly. It bugs the fuck out of me and I would really like some answers.

[Girard442]

3. This post continues to be relevant:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100216050559

[LymphocyteLover]

5. Ha, indeed. But my worry is that they are too afriad of being seen prosecuting political opponents

[comradebillyboy]

4. It's a lot like waiting for Godot. nt

[Danmark]

7. Indict an Arrest Trump.

I'm sure if they indicted Trump all those who's ignoring their subpoenas would start to take it a little more serious, just saying.

[Fiendish Thingy]

8. Would you prefer a quick prosecution that fails, or a slow one that succeeds?

This is indeed a critical issue for the survival of democracy, but just because folks don’t get daily personal bulletins from Garland doesn’t mean nothing is happening.

What seems like multiple open and shut cases are in fact hundreds of cases, often linked in conspiracy, that are complex and difficult to prosecute successfully, especially with so many witnesses refusing to cooperate with the committee. Over a hundred have cooperated, and their testimony will hopefully provide evidence to prosecute the uncooperative bigger fish.

I’d estimate that we have at least another year to 18 months for indictments to be issued and trials to begin before the clock on prosecution will run out of time.

[dogknob]

12. Not just charge, but win... but tick tick tick... n/t

[gopiscrap]

9. Totally agree with you

[Beastly Boy]

10. It is far more dangerous for DOJ to charge Trump

and have him acquitted of the charges or have the charges thrown out. This will create a legal precedent for every dictator wannabe to follow far beyond Trump.

I would rephrase the header: If Garland doesn't charge Trump and his coup plotters and wins the case, our democracy is toast. But if he doesn't win the case, it would do more with the flaws of our system than Garland's skills as a district attorney. It's entirely on Congress to pass laws that can be enforced by DOJ.

[LymphocyteLover]

13. OK, I get your point.

Are you the same person who I argued a couple weeks ago with about the importance of prosecuting vs you saying a non-guilty verdict is worse?

[Beastly Boy]

15. Not the same person

I actually make a distinction between premature prosecution and prosecution of an inherently weak case. The former suggests haste, the latter suggests lack of basis in fact or in law. Being admittedly ignorant of the details, I still believe DOJ has a strong case and can effectively prosecute it once all the available evidence (or as much of it as circumstance may allow) is gathered and presented to a grand jury. If the case were weak, there would be no reason for DOJ to delay - it wouldn't change the outcome too much, if at all. The fact that they are delaying tells me that they anticipate to gather additional evidence that would make the case stronger.

[Joinfortmill]

19. 👍

[LymphocyteLover]

20. OK thanks. That makes sense and sounds

more reasonable than the point the other person I debated with about this was making.

[LymphocyteLover]

14. Curious how such a law would be written to encompass what Trump did on and around Jan 6th?

Any ideas?

[Beastly Boy]

16. That's way above my pay grade.

I would imagine that Congress would have to pass laws that will strengthen the integrity of election processes every step of the way. Not something that would focus on Trump or the specifics of how he got to plan the coup. Trump is the symptom, not the disease. We can learn from his example, but, in anticipation of the different ways our democracy may be undermined, we have to be proactive rather than reactive.

[LymphocyteLover]

21. Yes that makes sense and I guess wouldn't inflame 1/3 the country as much as prosecuting Trump would

[lees1975]

11. Pick up the phone, get on the computer and raise the level of interest

I voted for Biden precisely so that Trump would be treated fairly and equitably under the law, brought to trial and convicted for the multiple crimes he committed while President, including inciting an insurrection aimed at subverting the constitution. He is entitled to a speedy trial, quickly, and should be given the courtesy of residing in the same prison with his sons Don Jr. and Eric, daughter Ivanka and son-in-law Jared, close enough to wave through his barred window at Lauren Boebert, Marjory Taylor-Green, Matt Gaetz, Josh Hawley, Ted Cruz and anyone else in Congress who helped.

But in a separate prison from Mark Meadows and Steve Bannon.

[Sam1]

17. Our democracy is already toast and

we are just waiting to see how burned it is going to be! The damage was done when the reactionaries gained a super majority on SCOTUS. So, don't blame Garland. Blame those who allowed a big enough part of the electorate to bond behind Trump. How many "brown shirts" is Trump going to sell?

[Joinfortmill]

18. We don't know what the DOJ is doing

Regarding TFG because there are no leaks.