Trump Miscalculated. And Now, Trump’s Whole Mob Had Better Be Rethinking

If you shoot at the King, you had better kill him

To say that Merrick Garland isn’t Trump’s kind of Attorney General is the understatement of the century. Garland is quiet, soft spoken and reserved. But he is also nothing if not methodical, and has a quiet spine of steel.

Despite withering criticism from the Democratic congress and media over his plodding, methodical p0ace in the J6 investigation, Garland never missed a hair. He quietly kept repeating that the DOJ would hold a fair, impartial investigation, leave no stone unturned, and follow the facts wherever they led. Oh yeah, and he kept saying that No man is above the law. Which led to Trump’s fatal miscalculation. He decided that Garland was weak, and could be run over.

Now that the DOJ has started hauling close Trump and Pence aides in front of a grand jury, and the Mar-A-Lago search is over, all the pundits who slammed Garland for his pace in the investigation are still flogging the same, deceased equine. The new mantra is Why did the search warrant take so long? We’ve known Trump had that stuff since January! Why now? Here’s why.

But before we go any further, let’s state a few simple facts that we do know. Donald Trump is a criminal. He was warned before he left 1600 Pennsylvania not to take those boxes, they belonged to the National Archives. Also, Biden chose not to extend Trump’s security clearance. Trump wasn’t even approved to hold classified material, which is what he wanted a fully security cleared Hillary Clinton jailed for mishandling, much less materials so top secret they couldn’t even be described in public facing documents. Trump is guilty of Theft and Unauthorized possession of national security documents.

But remember one thing, we’re dealing with the law here. And you don’t run a guy over for dinging your car without suing him first. Search and seizure is a last resort, not the primary tool. The National Archives contacted Trump, and recovered 15 boxes of documents. But cataloguing showed that they were incomplete. So the archives asked the DOJ to open an investigation.

So while they investigated, the DOJ negotiated. And negotiated, and negotiated some more. And the more Trump stonewalled them, the more sure Trump became that the DOJ would never physically move against him. Right up until the second all of those black Suburbans rolled in through the Mar-A-Lago gates.

And that had to put a snowball of fear in his gut. For an egomaniac like Trump, there is no more terrifying thought that somewhere out there is someone with oodles of authority who doesn’t think you’re any better than any other slob on the street. Trump is used to being treated with deference, fear, and respect, and there’s nothing deferential about federal agents pawing through your safe and all your other shit. What next?

But I’ll tell you who else had better be feeling ice water in their bowels. Peter Navarro. John Eastman. Roger Stone. Rudy Giuliani. Steve Bannon. And most importantly, Mark Meadows. Because with the Mar-A-Lago search, their entire universe just shifted.

As long as Traitor Tot was able to fend off Garland and the DOJ over the documents he stole, and failed to properly store, they could continue to wrap that tattered shawl of Trump invincibility around their shoulders, and pray for a miracle. But when those black Suburbans rolled through Trump’s schlock gates, they all blinked their eyes, looked into the mirror, and realized that they were as naked as the Emperor. Their Drink Me is all used up.

The prime candidate for night terrors is, of course, Mark Meadows. If I were Meadows, I’d be sleeping on a cot in my criminal lawyer’s office. Meadows could steamroll the J6 Committee with claims of executive privilege, and get away with it. And I still firmly believe that the DOJ declined to prosecute Meadows for contempt because they were already zeroed in on him, and had bigger fish to fry. And now the frying pan is hot.

Meadows cloak of invisibility is gone. Unlike the J6 Committee, the DOJ can slap Meadows with a subpoena, and drag him in front of a grand jury. And if he tries to hide behind executive privilege, then they can grab him by the scruff of the neck, march him across the hall to Chief Judge Beryl Howell’s office, and ask for a ruling. And if Howell turns thumbs down, then Meadows is toast. Answer the question, or go to the clink for contempt of court.

Sweet Jesus, this seemed to take forever, but the day is finally here. As long as Trump remained untouchable, these bozos could con themselves into thinking that they were untouchable too. But Trump didn’t just get touched, he got spanked by a leather covered wooden paddle. And today these schmucks are looking dazedly around, finally realizing that They’re all on their own. It’s a Brave New World.