Worth the wait: Trump and his right-wingers may pay the price for January 6


I believe I can speak for many liberals when I say that Merrick Garland’s speech to the Justice Department on January 5 was long overdue. Considering the gravity of the matter — an actual siege on our nation’s capital — it’s been more than bewildering and disappointing to hear virtually nothing from the Attorney General of the United States. Yes, we’ve seen hundreds of people be arrested, charged and sentenced for taking part in the Jan. 6 insurrection, but we’ve heard not a word about the probe from the top law enforcement official in the country.

While the January 6th commission seems to be doing a fairly bang-up job – albeit a slower one than some might prefer – Garland has been close to radio-silent on the topic, which some (myself included) interpreted as a lack of desire to engage with the issue. Sort of a “they’ll deal with it; I’m going to stay above the fray” attitude. 

While we obviously can’t be sure this is what happened, it certainly seems like someone got in Garland’s ear to tell him the silent act was getting old. His speech appeared to be crafted to talk some progressives off the ledge and assure us that the DOJ was not close to being done with its investigation.

One part I found very interesting was when he pointed out that prosecutorial strategy calls for tackling the so-called “low hanging fruit” first before going after the bigger targets. It wasn’t a direct message that investigators were going after former President Trump, but it certainly seemed to be a message in that direction.

“We build investigations by laying a foundation. We resolve more straightforward cases first because they provide the evidentiary foundation for more complex cases,” Garland said.

That’s exactly what many Americans, not just liberals, wanted to hear…at least those of us who believe justice should be applied equally, no matter how rich or how powerful you are.