Me: 768 indictments so far, including Steve Bannon and a recent indictment for seditious conspiracy. . .
in an investigation that is ongoing. . .
in less than a year, during a pandemic.
Person: NONE OF THOSE COUNT.
⤵️The Trump Org, Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn, Allen Weisselberg, George Papadopoulos, Rick Gates, George Nader, Michael Cohen, Lev Parnas. . .
Two impeachments.
The Mueller team indicted or got guilty pleas from 34 people and 3 companies.
But none of those count, right?
Wrong about what?
I've said what has happened already.
I make no future predictions.
Now, look, I'd love for Trump to get indicted, but I don't think will end the threat of fascism. It won't solve our most serious problems which are (1) rampant disinformation and (2) the fact that so many Republicans still support Trump and Trump-like candidates.
Precisely.
And you can see how we get a destructive-rage cycle.
🔹People believe that indictments will end fascism and sweep Republicans out of office in 2022 (It won't: getting out the vote, however, might do that.)
🔹So they think the problem is there haven't been enough indictments and they are not happening fast enough.
🔹They panic and spread doom FASCISM WILL FLOURISH because not enough indictments.
🔹People get mad at Democrats. . .
. . . and they rail against Democrats for not doing that THING that will finally cause support for fascism to CRATER
🔹People think Democrats are the real problem, which makes it harder to turn out votes for Democrats
🔹People get so worn out and discouraged they shut down.
. . . and don't get involved in registering voters and getting out the vote.
🔹I personally know people who have tuned out because the constant doomsaying is so mentally exhausting.
Indictments are nothing more than a formal accusation of a crime . . .
. . . trials can become media circuses and don't always come out how we want.
There is a problem with this sentence: "We need to restore Rule of Law by putting them all in prison now and keeping them there because we know they are horrible destructive people."
Meanwhile, I found another volunteer opportunity for myself to provide legal assistance to people who are experiencing difficulties registering to vote.
Fact: Nobody named Trump has been indicted for the events surrounding Jan. 6.
Speculation: Why nobody named Trump has been indicted and whether it will happen.
Fact: Merrick Garland was sworn in almost 11 months ago.
Good point. Also, I realize I was speaking generally.
With legal matters, it's harder.
Generally, if a lawyer makes a statement like "This is a slam dunk and should be prosecuted" but hasn't seen all the evidence, the lawyer doesn't really know.
We have a thing called prosecutorial discretion and prosecutorial independence.
Defense attorneys are accustomed to feeling frustrated by this.
Basically it means that the prosecutor decides whether to prosecute. (Defense lawyers often think they got it wrong).
In an autocracy, the autocrat decides who to prosecute.
In an era of mob rule (lynchings) the mob decides. Mobs bypass tiresome rules and procedures because they think the horribleness of the person justifies it.
As our rule-of-law system is designed, the prosecutor decides.
Someone said to me "The DOJ should throw us a bone."
If 760+ indictments and an ongoing investigation isn't enough of a bone, read this: justice.gov/opa/speech/att…
This is Garland's way of throwing a bone and teaching people how rule of law works.
People ask: "Isn't this enough evidence to prosecute this crime?"
Well, I don't know. Is there complicating exculpatory evidence that we don't know about? Is there a reason not to bring that particular indictment yet? Perhaps the investigators aren't ready to tip their hands.
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Screenshot so I don't give airtime to people who trade on despair, even though it seems stingy of me to deny people such an easy route to popularity and attention.
Facts:
🔹Nobody knows what is happening inside the DOJ except people who work there.
1/
🔹People who speculate on what is happening based on evidence are, well, speculating.
🔹One problem is distinguishing fact from speculation.
🔹Here's the shocker: Just because someone is a well-known lawyer doesn't mean they are right when they speculate.
2/
🔹Another shocker: Not all lawyers are smart or good lawyers.
🔹It can be very difficult to distinguish legal facts from legal opinions. If you're a nonlawyer, this is harder than distinguishing facts or speculation.
Some things are legal facts. Others are legal opinions.
3/
I doubt Trump wrote it, but the argument is "why do they need to pass a law against what we tried to do if what we tried to do was illegal?"
This is the attitude he has always had toward the law, and it's the attitude his father had.
1/
I'm not saying this will work as a defense.
As I said earlier, in the criminal context, most defenses fail (ask any criminal defense lawyer).
I'm saying that it's not an admission of guilt. It's a convoluted argument that what he wanted Pence to do wasn't illegal.
2/
In fact, the law that Democrats and a few others are trying to pass is to clarify the Electoral Count Act so people don't get the idea the vice president can win the election.
As I said earlier, Trump usually loses in court.
This is for the Court of Right-Wing Opinion.
3/
. . . when you're spinning with outrage, you can't think or plan. Too much outrage leads people to think it's all hopeless, which leads to cynicism, which leads to nihilism.
In life-threatening emergencies, cool heads save lives . . .
This is how he will create the narrative that any prosecution is political. For Trump, the truth doesn’t matter. What matters is that enough people believe it.