Trust him, Merrick Garland has this... an election day fever-dream
Post election fantasy... Dark Garland strikes!
A Poor Man’s Nostradamus
If I were a betting man I would lay odds that the DOJ will be indicting Donald Trump for Obstruction of Justice and violating the Presidential Records Act within the next few days. The clues are out there bigger than breadcrumbs— more like stale baguettes from one of his bankrupted casino buffets :
The Justice Department is also staffing up its investigations with experienced prosecutors so it’s ready for any decisions after the midterms, including the potential unprecedented move of indicting a former president. Top aides to Trump have been eyeing the third week of November as an ideal launch point for his campaign, with two sources telling CNN on Friday morning that the team has specifically discussed November 1…
A follow-up charge of Seditious Conspiracy will be forthcoming right after Trump changes his underwear and informs us that before he left the White House in disgrace he ”thought about” pardoning himself. For a really poor loser, Mr. Trump is well-practiced in lawsuits— he has been involved in over 4000 since he began doing business in New York in 1973. He has lost more than his share and many of the other suits were resolved in settlements friendly to his plaintiffs. In that sense, Trump is a pretty good loser and his latest skirmishes with the law may prove him worthy of a citation in the Guinness Book of Records for “biggest loser”— incidentally a game show that began on NBC in 2004 at the same time as The Apprentice. Unlike the Trump show, The Biggest Loser is still airing making Apprentice the bigger loser of the two.
The ire of those of us who have criticized Merrick Garland for his inaction will be allayed as Garland explains the reason for his delay in charging. To have moved the indictment earlier might/would have placed a thumb on the upcoming midterms, and had a hand in determining the results. That said, it is an excuse that despite its seeming phoniness rings true.
Worth the Wait
The timing of a move this consequential is more important than our impatience— many of us who opine here have a tendency to be hypercritical. The 2022 midterms may be the most consequential election since— well, since the last one. Coming down with an indictment on a character as perverse as the former “godfather-in-chief” would take skills that evaded Jim Comey in his test of managerial competence, and the results of Comey’s lack of judgment have more than likely gotten us to this point. My bet is that Garland has learned from Comey and that he has this, trust him.
Whatever the results of the election today a premature indictment of Trump could certainly have
energized the Trump-addicted even more than they are already, creating chaos and perhaps throwing the election to the Republicans.
or, provided the excuse for further mischief and election violence.
It is easy to dismiss the DOJ’s waiting for the election to be decided without the new information provided by an indictment and the storm it would have caused by Trump’s criminally motivated base. While there will be blowback no matter when the AG applies justice and the rule of law to Trump’s serial crime spree, Garland has little choice. Charging this super felon has international implications. It is not too much to attribute the status of the world economy, Putin’s aggression in Ukraine, Xi’s crackdown on Hong Kong and his designs on Taiwan, the need to rebuild the NATO alliance, and political violence at home at the feet of the one man wrecking crew known as Trump.
All In
And so, I predict that Garland was always wearing his “Big Boy” pants and has decided to engage the dark side using his more genteel super legal powers— decency and an uncommon knowledge of the law. Trump’s biggest mistake would be to play into Garland’s hands and declare his candidacy for the presidency this week, forcing the DOJ to appoint a special counsel to manage the investigation:
“This is the most important criminal case in our country’s history. Ultimately, every person in the United States will be the jury in this case, and they will need to have confidence that the prosecution team reflects all of them.”
But make no mistake, Garland will design and forge the faux-gold handcuffs for those undersized hands.
As predictions go, I think this lies well inside the odds of my winning the lottery, or the odds of Trump successfully managing another gambling “resort.” One can imagine the orange-coiffed former billionaire practicing his groping skills on a not-so-compliant Bubba (or vice versa), an apprentice, perhaps, from Hell’s Kitchen. Merrick Garland, if you are reading this don’t let me down. I’m counting on you!