You think it won't, couldn't possibly, happen this time, in the face of all *this*, but I promise you: it will. Unless there is an enormous, sustained, absolutely dogged push from below -- starting now, honestly -- that is what will happen. That's how the machine works, that's how it's built.

"Move on." That was the cry. Oh, Republicans fucked everything up, got millions of people killed, tanked the economy? Let's not dwell on it. Let's not be consumed with petty vindictiveness. Let's be the bigger people, look forward, pull the country back together. Time for healing. Etc.

It's difficult to imagine now -- much like it was difficult for me to imagine during Bush II in the wake of the disastrous Iraq war, the disastrous Katrina response, the disastrous economy -- but the second these monsters are out of power, the soothing cries of "look forward, not back" will begin.

... if we really want people to be held accountable this time, we will be fighting against the media, against billionaires, against big business, against the consultant class, against D leadership, against practically the entire apparatus of US politics. The architecture is *built for impunity*.

So it's fine to fantasize about some cathartic purge where shitty people actually face consequences for their shittiness. But understand that the default course of events in the US -- even now, even in the face of *this* shittiness -- is elite impunity. Which means ...

Let me put this more productively: there was considerable public fury toward previous Republicans for lies, crimes, misbegotten wars, etc. But it ran up against the *enormous, extremely powerful* forces defending elite impunity. And the latter forces won, decisively. It was barely a fight.

I will forever be mystified by the fact that until recently she was married to a man who became (post-2016) one of the most fearless & vocal Trump critics (well surpassing even most elected Dems). He even regularly calls Trump & his movement “evil.”
bsky.app/profile/marc...

Why Garland’s DOJ didn’t IMMED. open an investigation into Trump’s “find me 11,780 votes” call (could there be a more textbook-perfect case of election interference per 52 U.S.C. § 20511(2)(B)?) is one of many mysteries left unsolved in @carolleonnig.bsky.social & @byaaroncdavis.bsky.social’s book.

I find it odd that her response to “Garland sucked” is so often, “You suck John Roberts’s cock.” Um… okay?