It All Lands on Merrick Garland's Doorstep

 

The incomparable Michael Schmidt interviewed Alex Aronson, a young attorney who's expert on judicial ethics and so-called "dark money" in politics, asking for his analysis of how Trump managed to skate away from legal accountability for his biggest apparent crimes. 

Aronson put his finger on the exact problem that too frequently characterizes Democrats in a political crisis -- their timidity, their evident afraidness of what people will say, what reprisals will come if they take bold and appropriate action. Democrats seem sometimes to be burdened by a debilitating self-consciousness. How many campaign tribunals have I sat in and heard a candidate say about a proposed bold message, "But that might upset so-and-so!" when upsetting said Mr. So-and-So is exactly what needs to happen. Show some courage of your convictions. Take a lesson from Donald Jethro Trump.

Aronson's analysis:

The repeated failures by Democrats and the Justice Department to hold Mr. Trump accountable — whether that was during his first term or when he was indicted twice when he was out of office — [those failures created a bigger monster] .... Biden should have clearly signaled on his first day in office that his administration would aggressively pursue accountability for wrongdoing .... Biden and the rest of his administration, including Merrick B. Garland, ... were far too focused on restoring norms than trying to hold Mr. Trump and his administration accountable .... “Garland’s hesitation to pursue accountability out of fear of Trump’s inevitable baseless accusations ultimately helped Trump delay accountability until he escaped it altogether.”

 O hindsight, you are so magical and always right.