Garland Must Prosecute Trump
The January 6th hearings are starting back up again this Tuesday. So far, the hearings have been a combination of explosive revelations of new wrong doing, and confirmation of the nefarious activities we’d already been privy too. The committee itself has definitely exceeded expectations at this point, in large part thanks to the efforts of sharks like Republican Liz Cheney, whose ruthlessness has, for perhaps the first time in her career, been helpful to the American people. While the public testimony will continue, the evidence laid out by the committee couldn’t be clearer: Donald Trump and his associates, from his chief of staff on down, attempted repeatedly and unrelentingly to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election. This was a multi-pronged strategy that involved pressure campaigns against secretaries of states and governors, fraudulent electors, and what appears to be a planned violent insurrection in conjunction with white nationalist groups like the Proud Boys and Oathkeepers. These attempts indeed failed, but in many cases only by the narrowest of margins: the missed hand-off of fake electors to Pence, and the unwillingness of a single secretary of state to bow to Trump’s requests, are only two of the myriads of moments in which our democracy was nearly stolen from us. Most recently, we’ve learned that the unexpected bombshell testimony from Cassidy Hutchinson was nearly scuttled by witness intimidation from Trump’s team. Apparently, Hutchinson had to switch lawyers partway through the investigation, due to concerns her first counsel was running interference between Hutchinson and the Jan 6 committee. The whole affair really has been as sensational and substantive as promised. Perhaps even more stunning than the naked criminality of Trump and his cronies, which has been on open display for years, is that these hearings appear to be rising above the cacophony of daily life and entering the consciousness of the American people. In stark contrast to the unpopularity of Trump’s impeachments, nearly 60% of polled Americans want Trump prosecuted. Who could have guessed that actually pursuing the substantive crimes at the heart of the Trump’s empire would prove politically and civically valuable? /s As promising as all this might seem, what happens next? The committee, like most actions led by the Democrats can’t act on its own beyond the disinfecting power of sunlight, and recommendations to the DOJ. The hearings can, and should continue, but to get modicum of justice, we will need Attorney General Merrick Garland to take the committee’s findings and pursue prosecution. The evidence and the politics are already on his side, but Garland has proven to be a shrinking violet in matters of import. The sad truth is that Garland and the Democrats are likely to blink when the moment comes, and let the fascist rot of the Republican party continue to spread unchecked. The powers that be on the Democratic and Republican sides are loathe to take action against one of the elites, even under such obvious circumstances. In many ways this could be the worst outcome, as failure to hold these traitors to account after public acknowledgment of their crimes, will only embolden them to future action. We, the people, must do everything in our power to make sure that the remaining vestiges of our democracy aren’t snatched from us. This is an all-hands on deck moment, which like many of our current fights, will need not just political, but economic power in order to succeed. So join us each Tuesday in growing solidarity as we build an economic cudgel to prod our reluctant institutions in action. #DSOT #UPM
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