# F Merrick Garland. (He won't be going after anyone)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [July 19, 2022, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190 "2022-07-19T06:39:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 43
### Author:  [@Buck\_Godot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Buck_Godot)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2025, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/841 "2025-05-26T19:25:51Z")
In retrospect it was a almost definitely a mistake not to go after Trump more aggressively. What ever downsides there were to the prosecution its hard to imagine how it could have made things worse than they are now.
That said I do see Garland’s calculation to not pursue it based on the following assumptions. Which although turned out to in many cases be erroneous are not in my opinion entirely unreasonable.
1. Even though the prosecutions were justified, it would be impossible to avoid opening up the justice department to accusations of being weaponized to go after Biden’s political enemies.
2. Trump and MAGA thrive on a prosecution complex. Making that prosecution a reality will only strengthen the movement.
3. The case against Trump wasn’t a slam dunk. Although its pretty clear that Trump wanted a riot to disrupt the Jan 6th proceedings, his language on that day was ambiguous enough to allow for plausible deniability that would make it extremely difficult to prove his intentions beyond a reasonable doubt. The case of fake electors was stronger. but all it would take is one Trump cultest to get on the jury and Trump would be able to declare his innocence. And since he was innocent the prosecution must have been pure to get rid of him.
4. Biden had already beaten Trump, and with only a couple of exceptions once you lose an election you are a spent force. Trump could rant and bluster all he wanted but he was done.
I think Garland basically intended to go after the small fry and just let the case die. What changed was when Trump refused to give back the top secret documents that he had in his possession. At that point Garland had to take action for the sake of national security. Once he launched a raid to Mara Largo, there was no going back for better or worse the justice department was going after Trump. Any negative consequences of prosecuting Trump were fait acompli, and in for a penny in for a pound, yoiu might as well go after him for everything.
The thing that really killed things was Canon being selected as judge in that case. It was a total open and shut case, which could easily have been over and done with before the election but Canon foiled and slow walked it at every turn leaving us where we are now.
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### Author:  [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2025, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/842 "2025-05-26T19:29:51Z")
New York should have thrown Trump in jail. He was convicted, showed no remorse, and was constantly in contempt.
Fuck a “constitutional crisis”. The crisis was letting an insurrectionist run for POTUS in violation of the law. That was the crisis. This is the battle that should have been fought.
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [May 26, 2025, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/843 "2025-05-26T22:19:27Z")
> [@Tatterdemalion](#):
>
> Beating the rap made a hero out of him.
This, I think. The authoritarian-minded wanted someone to worship, and who better than someone who did exactly as he pleased all the time, and never faced consequences?
Had the documents case not been derailed by a partisan judge, we almost certainly would have seen Donald face actual consequences months before November 2024. He’d have been proven human, and thus less compelling to the dictator-worshipers.
And the Republicans would not have let him run–sparing the world all the pain that is to come.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [May 27, 2025, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/844 "2025-05-27T03:32:48Z")
> [@Atamasama](#):
>
> New York should have thrown Trump in jail. He was convicted, showed no remorse, and was constantly in contempt.
Trump has been under investigation for one thing or another his entire adult life. It’s just that nothing ever comes of it. It’s no wonder he considers himself above the law; it’s because _he really is._
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### Author:  [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2025, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/845 "2025-05-28T01:54:20Z")
> [@natureboy](#):
>
> I am cautiously optimistic that, eventually, ordinary people will be angry enough to fight back more meaningfully, but how far gone we are at that point is anyone’s guess.
But fighting back would be too divisive!
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### Author:  [@natureboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/natureboy)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2025, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/846 "2025-05-28T01:57:54Z")
Maybe there’s a point at which people stop caring about whether it’s divisive.
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### Author:  [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2025, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/847 "2025-05-28T02:23:55Z")
Sadly your mindset is basically what the entire democratic party thinks.
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### Author:  [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2025, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/848 "2025-05-28T12:49:24Z")
Looks like it doesn’t it.
But not me, or any of my friends. FIGHT dammit!
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### Author:  [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)
#### Post date: [May 28, 2025, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/849 "2025-05-28T13:04:25Z")
> [@enipla](#):
>
> FIGHT dammit!
More specifically, fight the fascists, not the other anti-fascists.
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2025, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/850 "2025-05-29T22:33:39Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> Trump has been under investigation for one thing or another his entire adult life. It’s just that nothing ever comes of it. It’s no wonder he considers himself above the law; it’s because _he really is._
I’m not disagreeing with you. But an alternate ending to your last sentence might be:
> [@](#):
>
> It’s no wonder he considers himself above the law; it’s _because enough unprincipled people have profited by letting Trump hold power, that they’ve enabled him to escape justice again and again._
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### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [May 29, 2025, 10:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/851 "2025-05-29T22:38:15Z")
Sure, but the result is that Trump is the only American citizen proven to be above the law, just as kings are. Al Capone ended up in prison, Trump never will. God bless America.
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### Author:  [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/852 "2025-05-30T02:49:12Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#):
>
> It’s no wonder he considers himself above the law; it’s _because enough unprincipled people have profited by letting Trump hold power, that they’ve enabled him to escape justice again and again._
They’ve been letting him walk since _long_ before he was in power.
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### Author:  [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/853 "2025-05-30T02:55:41Z")
You sort of wonder how many other rich people walk, because people are afraid to assign them consequences. Probably one of those things I don’t want to know.
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### Author:  [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)
#### Post date: [May 30, 2025, 2:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/854 "2025-05-30T14:31:35Z")
I don’t wonder that, not really. I’ve taken this as an axiom my entire adult life: If you’re rich enough, you don’t have to obey the law.
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [May 31, 2025, 9:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/855 "2025-05-31T21:59:55Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#):
>
> They’ve been letting him walk since _long_ before he was in power.
Which I think ties in with
> [@Dr.Drake](#):
>
> You sort of wonder how many other rich people walk, because people are afraid to assign them consequences.
Not a viable system in the long run, we may find. (Along with the classical Romans and other elites of failed civilizations.)
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### Author:  [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)
#### Post date: [January 6, 2026, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/856 "2026-01-06T16:30:18Z")
This is a good day to reiterate:
Fuck you, Merrick Garland.
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### Author:  [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2026, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/857 "2026-01-07T13:32:10Z")
👍
I hope he hates looking at himself in the mirror.
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### Author:  [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)
#### Post date: [January 7, 2026, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/858 "2026-01-07T22:10:04Z")
> [@Cervaise](#):
>
> I hope he hates looking at himself in the mirror. .
Well, he should, by rights. But I suspect he’s one of those people with an invulnerable self-image. ‘_I relied on the facts and the law and I was right_’-style of thing.
May he receive all that he deserves.\*
.
.
.
\*my most vicious curse
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### Author:  [@Roderick\_Femm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roderick_Femm)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2026, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/859 "2026-01-08T00:34:04Z")
> [@Sherrerd](#):
>
> I suspect he’s one of those people with an invulnerable self-image. ‘_I relied on the facts and the law and I was right_’-style of thing.
Are you saying that he didn’t actually rely on the facts and the law, or that he did but should not have?
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### Author:  [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)
#### Post date: [January 8, 2026, 12:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/f-merrick-garland-he-wont-be-going-after-anyone/968190/860 "2026-01-08T00:36:38Z")
I was just thinking about this thread and our current situation at lunch today, and I must concur in the strongest possible terms!
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