Former United States Attorney General Eric Holder had this to say on Twitter:
Mr. Holder is 100% correct. There is no cavalry. No court will rescue us from another possible Donald Trump presidential term. The only ones who can save democracy are us, the voters.
When former FBI Director Robert Mueller was hired as Special Counsel in 2018 to look into Trump’s firing of James Comey, I was hoping that Mueller, known for being fair and possessing the kind of integrity you’d want for such a job, would rise to the occasion.
In some ways, he did just that. He obtained several indictments against two of Trump’s top campaign aids, Paul Manafort and Rick Gates. They were charged with a slew of financial crimes and lying. Gates cooperated for a time, as did Manafort. Mueller also indicted several members of the Russian GRU. This Kremlin-based military intelligence organization team interfered with the 2016 election by targeting social media with lies and disinformation that were intended to benefit Trump.
In the end, though, Mueller could not charge Trump with any conspiracy that tied him directly to the Russians. Much of that was due to Trump himself and others’ non-cooperation. The former president completed a questionnaire in which he couldn’t recall much of anything and was evasive—facts that Mueller pointed out in the report.
Of course, Trump’s Attorney General Bill Barr ended the investigation, writing a misleading and self-serving summary in the process. Even though Mueller produced ten instances of possible obstruction of justice by Trump, Barr ignored them. Unfortunately, so did the present Attorney General, Merrick Garland, when he was appointed by Joe Biden in 2021.
The Mueller Report, essentially, was dead, as was holding Trump accountable.
We all saw what happened after the 2020 election. Joe Biden won a legitimate and legal election, upheld by over 60 court challenges put forward by Trump’s legal team. In addition, all 50 governors had certified the election by December 14, 2020. Yes, that includes every Republican governor, most of whom wanted Trump to win but ultimately did their civic duty.
In the case of the 2020 election, the courts did save us. They saw the bogus charges Trump’s team alleged, knocking them down one after the other. It should have been the end, with Trump conceding and allowing for the peaceful transfer of power, something achieved during every presidential election since the inception of the United States of America.
But, of course, we had no such thing. Trump and his team continued to lie about the “rigged election.” He even called the Georgia Secretary of State, imploring him to “find 11,780 votes.”
While the courts and governors did right by the United States, the disgraced former president did not. He implored his mob of crazies to show up on January 6, 2021, to “fight like hell.” It’s precisely what they did, trying mightily to delay the official counting and certification of the election. It was delayed for a few hours, but Congress returned and eventually finished their work.
The American people saw what happened. Well, some did. Those watching Fox News and the like decided it was only a protest that got out of hand. The rest of us, however, were appalled and disgusted at what transpired on that day. Congress subsequently impeached Trump for his actions surrounding January 6.
Once again, there was a chance for Trump to finally be held accountable. The trial in the Senate clearly showed his culpability. He, and he alone, was responsible for the mob assembled on that day. Had he conceded, January 6 would have been nothing but another winter day in history, culminating in the constitutionally and boringly mandated counting of electoral votes.
Thanks to the cowardly Senate, though, Trump again escaped accountability. Only seven Republicans could bring themselves to vote for conviction. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was not among them. He tried explaining his no vote by stating that Trump could and should be held accountable by the courts.
A successful impeachment and conviction would have ended Trump’s political career once and for all. He would have been prohibited from running for office ever again. Had McConnell come out on the yes side of things, he might have persuaded another nine GOP senators to join him.
Congress did not save us.
And then there’s Merrick Garland. While the Justice Department did yeoman’s work in obtaining over a thousand indictments of the January 6 perpetrators, Garland dithered when it came to going after the only guy who was responsible. His failure to appoint a special counsel at the very beginning has led us to where we are today.
Yes, Trump is under indictment from four different jurisdictions, with over 91 charges levied against him. Unfortunately, due to Garland’s failure to see the urgency of the situation, his appointment of Jack Smith as special counsel was much too late. While Smith was up to the task, moving with lightning speed, the delay did nothing but help Trump in the long run.
A nearly lifelong affinity for challenging court cases everywhere, Trump has proven particularly adept at using those courts to his advantage—delay, delay, delay. He has the resources and attorneys to do the job—something most Americans can only dream of. Not only is he a successful con man, but he has also learned to navigate the gaping holes in our system of justice far better than anyone else.
Merrick Garland failed to see the gravity of the moment. Now, the Supreme Court has to weigh in on Trump’s claims of immunity from practically everything while he was president. Only his upcoming trial in the so-called “hush money” case in New York is on track to start and finish before the election in November.
This Supreme Court, the so-called Roberts Court, has handed Trump a significant victory in his immunity claim. The Appeals Court in Washington, D.C., unanimously decided that no president has absolute immunity. The Supreme Court could have simply affirmed that ruling, letting the January 6 Jack Smith case against Trump proceed on schedule. Unfortunately, everything is now on hold. After deliberating for two weeks, the Court decided that they wanted to hear the case themselves.
In retrospect, this is all well and good. You could argue that the highest Court in the land ought to weigh in on a case of such magnitude. But instead of speed, they slow-walked the date for oral arguments. Now, we must wait until April 22, nearly two months from now. Could they issue a ruling within a few weeks after that? Sure, it’s possible. But with this Court, you never know.
The bottom line is the January 6th case is now on hold – indefinitely.
The sprawling election interference case in Georgia is also on hold due to accusations of prosecutorial misconduct surrounding Fulton County DA Fani Willis. Willis is accused of hiring her boyfriend as a lead prosecutor in the case and improperly benefitting financially from the hire.
Once again, while this case was brought by one of Trump’s co-defendants, his fingerprints are all over it. Not only is the case on hold, but Willis’ ability to conduct it until its conclusion is now very much in doubt, as is whether it even happens at all.
Finally, the classified documents case in Florida is also in jeopardy of beginning before the election. Here, Trump is helped by the fact that the judge presiding over the case, Aileen Cannon, was appointed by him and has clearly shown signs she’s in no hurry to speed things up.
So there you have it. The courts aren’t going to save us. Congress isn’t going to save us. The justice department? Nope.
Only you and I. We, the voters, must do what the United States Constitution, with its flaws and vague language, cannot do: hold a former president accountable. Our Founders knew there could be a man like Trump as president; Alexander Hamilton certainly did. But it wasn’t enough to account for the possibility of a con man like Trump coming to power.
And now, it could happen again.
Unless we show up in numbers so high, any serious individual can never question his defeat. Trump will question it no matter what, as will his maniacal followers. However, a blowout will undoubtedly help quash the MAGA movement once and for all.
Joe Biden is an old man. We all know it; we all see it. In a perfect world – mine, we’d have two younger candidates going at it in November. But this is not a perfect world. It’s Trump V Biden, redux. Accept it.
I’ve joked before that Joe Biden could be in a wheelchair, being fed by his wife, and I’d still vote for him over Trump. Yes, it’s hyperbolic, but not that much. The choice between the two will become much more apparent as we get further into this election year. Folks will, hopefully, realize that Joe Biden has done a damn good job as president – regardless of his age.
And the other guy? If you value democracy, he’s not for you. He has said he’d only be a dictator on day one. Don’t believe it for a minute. He’ll undermine our institutions beyond what he did the first time around. He’ll appoint loyalists to every meaningful position throughout government. And no, not loyalists to the constitution—loyalists to him.
The American people, you and I, can ensure that guy never sniffs the White House again. The cavalry is not coming. We are the cavalry.
On The Fence Voters 
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