We are all glad to hear that Garland is finally going forward investigating Trump’s role in January 6th. But it remains to be seen if he is getting close enough quick enough. Will action from the Justice Department prove to be too little too late? Granted, Garland is in a very bad position. He has to balance the fact that Trump has successfully cast himself as persecuted with the increasingly clear reality that he committed serious crimes in an attempt to stay in power. Garland’s biggest mistake is not having started out focused on Trump from the beginning. His next biggest mistake is not responding to pressure from the January 6th committee.
The January 6th committee has laid out a lot of evidence, and it is hard for me to understand why Garland would not use that evidence and let the public know he is grateful for that evidence. There is a lot to be said for being methodical, but there is also moving too slowly when an issue requires immediate attention. Typically, you would want someone in Garland’s position to take things steadily. But these are not typical circumstances. Unprecedented circumstances call for unprecedented action. Garland must move now. This is perhaps the most serious test of American democracy since the Civil War. Garland must meet the moment. If he doesn’t it is incumbent on the rest of us to pressure him to do so.
If Garland is afraid of moving forward too quickly he needs to be doing things that will make more of his investigation of a matter of public record, and do a better job of speaking to the American people, especially as he moves ever closer to the president himself. One interview is not enough. Critically, Trump’s supporters need to hear more forcefully that their leader is not immune from prosecution, not above the law.
Garland is on the right track in terms of where he is looking. Trump’s attempts to disrupt the vote count by sending alternate slates of electors, electors that he knew were “fake,” in the name of overturning a fair election and subverting the will of the people, are perhaps even more important than the insurrection itself. It is important to establish that the Bie Lie was a Lie, that Trump knew that he had lost in those critical battleground states. The only real way to defeat Trumpism is to demonstrate to the American public that Donald Trump was acting from claims of voter fraud even he didn’t believe, simply trying to hold onto power, this and nothing else.
Emails have come to light that reveal just how much the Trump apparatus knew they were breaking the law, that their so-called “alternate” electors were in reality “fake” and were created for the sole purpose of disrupting the peaceful transfer of power. Garland can now go forward and tell the American people something concrete before Trump once again becomes a candidate. This is critical.
Progressive Without Apology 