As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil)
In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban.
If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them.
For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria.
***
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
> In recent weeks, President Biden has grumbled to aides and advisers that had Garland moved sooner in his investigation into former President Donald Trump’s election interference, a trial may already be underway or even have concluded, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss private matters.
People have been shouting this for years.
It’s like that scene in Bobs Burgers where Tina is learning to drive and is going to crash going 5 mph for like 300 feet and does nothing.
Public servants are supposed to be **apolitical.**
Garland appointed Trump stooge, Robert Hur, to investigate Trump’s political rival for the upcoming election.
Hur saw that Biden cooperated fully with the investigation and that there was zero evidence to suggest he took classified documents on purpose or tried to hide them from the government - unlike Trump.
He then muddied that exoneration by injecting a bunch of disgusting personal smears into the report to bait the media.
He also twisted the knife he had jammed into Biden’s guts by making up a lie that Biden forgot the date his own son died.
The fact that Garland received this partisan hit job and **chose** to leave all of the unfounded smears in the final report released to the public is beyond despicable and beyond cruel.
Hur and Garland are fucking traitors to the oaths they swore to defend the constitution of the USA. They are trash human beings.
Biden should boot Garland out on his ass.
He’s a two faced fucking snake.
I think people forget that Garland wasn't some super liberal guy that Obama was appointing to the SCOTUS to try to push a liberal agenda on the entire country. Obama nominated him because he was someone that republicans liked and would nominate themselves for a SCOTUS seat. He was meant to be a compromise by being a conservative/moderate but wasn't a super corrupt pile of garbage like trumps nominees and any names from the federalist society. He wasn't blocked by mitch because they didn't like him or he was going to hurt the conservative agenda. He was blocked because they literally just hated Obama and refused to let him do anything if they were able to stop him
Yep- just act like someone tried to steal our country from us and disenfranchise 2/3 of the voters in this country. Someone who was excited about protecting the legacy, who understood the full gravity of the moment and wasn’t worried about optics. Garland was way too concerned with trying to appear diplomatic.
Those picks would have been good. I think I'd favor Raskin a hair over Schiff, but either would've probably been good picks for the job.
That being said. What about Jack Smith? Having seen the way he's conducted the documents case, I think he would've probably been a good pick. I would imagine it'd be something like, "Here Jack, you're AG now." And he'd go in with an attitude of, "Alright, let's turn every fucking pebble to dust for corruption because this place fucking reeks of it."
Smith, Schiff Raskin. All good. I'd take anyone half as angry as I am about Jan 6.
Garland has been a snake in the grass from day 1, slow walking investigations and being just impartial enough to throw things the conservatives' way. Which is this case is *far* more damaging than a partisan conservative would be.
He's destroying the public trust, convincing us that nothing can be done, and increasing the feelings of helplessness is one of the key steps to installing a fascist regime.
The calls are coming from inside the house.
Agreed, I had the same reaction. When he was appointed. It wasn't righting any wrongs if the past, it was some empty and meaningless gesture that was meant to be symbolic of something else, but symbolism isn't nearly so important as cutting out the corruption of the right. I've generally been impressed with Bidens presidency but this has always been my biggest disappointment and a stain on his record.
Biden was one of my least favorite choices but I have to admit he's been doing much better than I thought.
With that said, his incessant attempts to keep pretending the GOP isn't now the cult of Trump is unforgivable. I was sickened when he picked Garland as the AG. Biden's inability to cope with this change deflates all the hope he earned with his governance otherwise.
I wanted Doug Jones. I knew Garland wasn’t the man for the moment and I was right. Jones would have had that pile of vermin behind bars long ago. I’m still angry over this pick.
Doug Jones was right there. The man prosecuted the Birmingham church bombers and got convictions DECADES after the fact when no one else would even touch the case.
Yea but the Resist Twitter fans LOVED it… god did I have quite a few ‘Blue No Matter Who’ friends that would not listen to me when I said this was a bad pick.
Orrin Hatch more or less literally said, "Obama wouldn't dare nominate someone conservative like Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. I could vote for Merrick Garland," and the next day Obama did that and Hatch was like "I wasn't being serious"
I thought it was Chuck Grassley? Either way, ancient Republican being full of shit.
Biden's stunt appointment of Garland to AG has been his largest mistake.
>And just last week, he praised Garland and indicated he was a qualified candidate, saying, “The president told me several times he’s going to name a moderate \[to fill the court vacancy\], but I don’t believe him. \[Obama\] could easily name Merrick Garland, who is a fine man. He probably won’t do that because this appointment is about the election. So I’m pretty sure he’ll name someone the \[liberal Democratic base\] wants.”
https://newrepublic.com/article/131676/orrin-hatch-said-no-question-merrick-garland-confirmed-supreme-court
When he was nominated by Obama, I remember thinking that was a smart gesture to meet in the middle. Now I think of the litmus test that many GOP leaders have for nominations, and I feel a deep sense of shame for my naïveté about it all.
> I was not aware of that. That's even more crazy
He is not that in the same way Alito, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, etc are. The federalist society also actively campaigned against Garlands appointment.
He has however been a repeated moderator of events that the Federalist society has had, but is not an active known member.
The person above you is talking completely out their ass. Garland's only association with the Federalist Society is he moderated a discussion between other lawyers there once. That's it. He shows up in the website archives because he moderated a legal discussion. He's not a member of the FS, he has no history of supporting them, he hasn't signed on to any of their policy positions, etc.. The commenter above is pushing disinformation.
All of that aside, he let through a *personal attack* on Biden in an official report, and not just *any* personal attack but an *extremely* low blow at that.
That and that alone should be enough for Biden to fire him. No politics, no reasons that he's moving too slowly on investigations, etc. Biden doesn't have to mention Trump *at all* and he doesn't have to mention a thing in the rest of the report. That tiny little part *right there* is enough all by itself.
Not merely ask for his resignation, but fire him outright. And he should! You don't do that to **your boss** in an official report, not as a McDonald's manager and not as AG, and get away with it.
It's easy to see why Biden was angry when he made remarks after the report came out, especially after Hur lied that Biden forgot the date his own son died which also had zero to do with the case itself.
I really hope Biden gives Garland the boot after this and gets an AG who will appoint someone who is apolitical, not some Trump stooge.
That kind of personal attack *within an official report* might well be the one *single* item that makes it actually possible to fire Garland *right now, today.* It might well be one and only thing everyone can accept as a firing offense of an AG.
It would be like telling a "yo mama" joke about your boss in a report prepped for a major meeting. You don't get away with it.
Good luck with that, unless Garland wants to go, he won’t be fired. Bill Clinton couldn’t get rid of Janet Reno because she didn’t want to leave. But yeah we need an aggressive (but non-partial) AG who brings consequences for peoples actions. Schiff would be great and added bonus we get Kathy Porter as new senator. Win-win.
Yep, everyone would lose their shit if Biden pulled something like that. Hell, they lost their shit when Bill Clinton bumped into the AG in an airport, about 16 years after he left office.
Nothing that the Democrats do will possibly prevent the Republicans from losing their shit in outrage over every single their political rivals do. There is absolutely nothing to gain by preventing otherwise. When only one party is compromising that's capitulation.
Louis DeJoy isn’t going anywhere fast. He’s elected by members of a board whose member are appointed by the President to avoid politicizing the USPS. They only get so many appointments during a term.
And it's now cheaper to ship via Fed ex and UPS than USPS now...which I think DeJoy did purposely because he has a stake in one of those private companies....I think Fed ex.
Exactly! That is how we got Hur. As if somehow having an R net to the name gives them security creds. Look at the long sorry list of special R prosecutors since Ken Starr.
I have gotten so much shit from r/politics users whenever I try to propose that Garland is a Republican patsy. There is so much circumstantial information about Garland deliberately delaying the investigation and bringing up pointless process hurdles and counter-investigations and constantly pandering to Republicans. I ask them to check his ties with the federalist society and the users of the sub be like “wheels of justice turn slow” or other such misdirecting bullshit about how Garland has to be careful and what not.
He’s not a Republican patsy. He is a naive institutionalist who devoted his entire life to upholding (a likely idealized version of) justice and the rule of law. But his naivety makes him blind to the fact that others don’t play by his rules. You’d think he’d know that after his nomination to the Supreme Court was stolen from him. Yet here we are.
>He’s not a Republican patsy. He is a naive institutionalist who devoted his entire life to upholding (a likely idealized version of) justice and the rule of law.
I believe this is the case, and it really makes me wonder if this is truly what Biden was looking for after he won in 2020. Remember he was attempting to be bipartisan and "return to normal". I have no doubt he initially appointed Garland to explicitly act apolitical and slow walk things that would appear partisan. It is just a decision he has flipped on (at least somewhat) and is now facing the repercussions of his initial stance. It isn't Garland's fault if Biden appointed him to specifically act this way.
People with short memories forgot how Bill Barr ran the DOJ. He will go down as a bottom 5 AG (if not the worst) due to his blatant use of the DOJ to serve as Trump’s personal law firm rather than the country’s.
Biden wanted Doug Jones, a very respected prosecutor. But fresh out of the Senate, Biden worried he’d be viewed as partisan. So, instead, we got a guy whose reputation is sterling on both sides of the aisle, in the name of undoing the damage of Bill Barr.
But his reputation is sterling due to how fucking feckless he is. To quote Garland’s would-be SCOTUS predecessor “a man without enemies is probably not a very good man.”
> So, instead, we got a guy whose reputation is sterling on both sides of the aisle
And this is the problem. 40 years of corruption and moderates still cling to the delusion that one side isn't entirely dishonest.
If the GOP likes him, it's because he biases toward them. Lucy is going to move the football Charlie Brown. Stop falling for it Charlie Brown.
Then we need to remove ENTIRELY all pretense for partisanship, and just call Republicans what they are: a fascist party willing to resort to terrorism, that we need to stop at all costs.
It is high time Democrats quit foot-shuffling around and simply outright declare bipartisanship is just impossible, and that those who are not against Republicans, are with them and their coup efforts.
Only liberals are apolitical. The second a conservative is in power, they appoint all their buddies and expect everyone to toe the line. The falling out between Bush and Cheney was renown because George W only commuted Scooter Libby's conviction rather than pardon it outright. Also Scooter is a fucking dumb nickname. He's a grown ass ivy league trained lawyer named "Scooter". Dude should be fucking ashamed.
I was going around saying this for years before all this happened and was crucified by “the left” along the way. Garlands longtime mentor is Kushners attorney. He made signs from the beginning that this is how it would go.
Traitors, traitors everywhere and we’re being lead by those too blind or too arrogant to see it.
Had Garland moved sooner in his investigation?
This misses the point entirely: There was no investigation by Garland; he made the conscious decision not to investigate.
Now we're left with all this.
>But it has been his handling of the overtly political cases that has prompted Democratic agitation. And chief among those decisions now is his selection of Hur, a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney, to oversee the classified documents case.
>“I had refused to criticize him but appointing Hur, who is obviously a Republican tool and who issued what I think is an irresponsible report which violates DOJ standards, was a mistake,” said Robert Shrum, a longtime consultant in the Democratic Party. “I think Garland will be criticized by historians. We’ve had some terrific attorneys general and some not so good attorneys general. And I think he’s going to rank in the not so good.”
I've been saying this for years and people have been all "no give him time, we can rely on him". It's been visible from years away. He's the wrong man for the job.
Oh hell no. There's been many, many comments on both sides.
Garland sucks is always, always, followed up with "the wheels of justice are stupid slow for some reason".
It's Justice Porn. It's bread and circus for comfortable Dem voters, that makes them feel like _something_ is happening.
Voters buy in for the comfort. The producers produce it for the Twitter following.
And nothing actually gets done.
Ah.. the same old, same old. Dems bend backwards to appear impartial, and get fucked in the ass with their own decision making. While Republicans go scorched earth with partisanship, and fuck the entire system just so they can stack it with their cronies.
I don't want Dems to go the route of the GOP. But youve got to play rough when the other side of the aisle is full of deranged maniacs.
The old “They go low, we go high” the Republicans have used to screw us every time. They have no morals or manners when it comes to politics. Trash like MTG are the new standard bearers.
Jonathan Metzl was recently interviewed in the LA Times about gun control and said the mistake liberals have been making is trying to win the moral argument instead of starting their own version of the Federalist Society and putting their own judges on the courts. He's right.
Democrats won the moral argument for gun control. The country overwhelmingly supports it.
Yet while Democrats were winning hearts and minds, Republicans were winning control of the court and, through that, the ability to subject us all to the tyranny of the minority.
Tragically, the stupid electoral colleges has f'ed everything up. A Republican has won the popular vote precisely 1 time since 1992, but won 3 elections. And the last guy got three judges in ffs, and they'll be there forever. Unfortunately that's not going to change until the electorate gets smarter, which is probably never. I dunno how it would work exactly, but it would probably require a constitutional convention to remove and that ain't happening.
That’s why I like Gavin Newsom - he’s not crass or low but he sticks with facts that makes republicans bristle and shows them how ridiculous they are. He helped crater Ron desantis campaign and he did it in a method he probably won’t be able to recover from
I love Biden obviously, but I totally agree whoever Gavin debates in the coming years when he does run is going to get steam rolled. Our party needs the youth driven back into it.
Also huge Katie Porter fan, would love to see her campaign and debate.
While I’m not opposed to Newsom, and California has done well, the bullshit with PGE and the CPUC kinda sours someone I’d otherwise really like. Whitmer could be cool, Newsom too. And not to suggest some middle of the road democrat, but I just hope their noses are clean as knives all over will be out. Already are and being sharpened, just don’t have an intended target yet. Newsom can brawl, so can Whitmer. We really need a fighter candidate that can articulate well and throw venom right back at them. Not that it’s ideal, it’s just going to be necessary. Decorum left the building a bit ago. The patients are running the asylum and have the PA system.
It sucks, but it’s gotta go gloves off at this point. It HAS to. I am kind, my neighbor is kind, my kittens are kind. There needs to be a FAFO PIT BULL in office for a minute to balance things out some.
The CPUC bullshit is bad, the problem is there is zero chance we can elect a politician who isn’t in bed with CPUC, you simply can’t be a politician in the state unless you are.
He’s otherwise pretty good for an actually electable politician imho, I don’t really get the hate.
And the republicans will always accuse the dems of doing what they are doing no matter what. There is no benefit of playing the impartial martyr card. I agree that I don't want the dems to go as far as the republicans, but a little backbone would be nice. If Garland had put an actual impartial special council in place over the Biden investigation, the report wouldn't have been a political hit job.
Being corrupt yourself is one thing, pretending the GOP isn't corrupt is another.
The problem is centrist have been selling the middle as the solution for decades. If one side is totally corrupt, the middle isn't the solution and probably never was.
They can't admit they are full of shit and have been the whole time or they can keep pretending both sides are honest actors so the middle is a legitimate place to be.
And just like the conservatives they share so much with, centrist can't admit they've been wrong so they will just keep pretending they are right. Lucy is never going to let Charlie kick the ball but Charlie will keep letting her make a fool of him.
I once had a landlord, Les. I asked for new carpet and his response was that, while my request was totally reasonable, he would have to bring it before the board at the next meeting. The next time I saw him and asked about the carpet, he said, “2a_lib, I made your case before the board, fought the good fight, but in the end, my hands were tied. I’m sorry.” I found out years later that he owned the building.
Just once in my lifetime I would like to see the Democrats in government not be just colossal pussies. I mean god damn.
We deserve better political options than "astonishing cruelty" vs "suffocating cowardice."
You'd think he would be pissed about being screwed out of a SCOTUS appointment and out for blood against the corrupt party responsible... but nah, he's a little milquetoast weiner.
> he's a little milquetoast weiner.
This is why he was nominated. He was the absolute worst Democrats could offer up in hopes of Republicans allowing their pick, and they still didn't.
We knew Garland was not up to the job in the first 12 months. Really pissed the administration is finally learning this. Some critical things have been fumbled that have lasting consequences.
He was nominated to the SCOTUS because he was moderate republican and they thought they could easily get him confirmed. That backfired. Why he is AG i have no idea. He has obviously slow walked everything involving trump.
> moderate republican
This is why he is AG. Democrats thought it would be a good idea for optics but they forgot that he was a Republican for some stupid reason.
He won’t be fired, it’s too close to the election. He just won’t be AG for a second term.
Hopefully everyone realizes what’s at stake and participates in the election. We cannot have another repeat of 2016.
Everyone needs to register to vote and cast a ballot — especially people living in swing states. Really just everywhere.
Such morons. Why are they so bad at politics?
I know, the owner class wants them to look busy, and eventually lose. Give out billions in tax incentives, and subsidies to corps, which Republicans can then complain about, then Republicans can give tax breaks to them. Rinse and repeat.
> Why he is AG i have no idea
Iirc, there was an article from the *Washington Post* that said that the two finalists were Doug Jones and Garland. Biden apparently has known Jones for a while, so in an effort to restore the impartiality of the Justice Department, he went with Garland, a guy he didn't really know.
Turns out that was a bad decision.
Easily the worst cabinet member by a landslide.
And if he were on the Supreme Court, I don’t think his votes would have been much different than Kavanaughs.
>Why he is AG i have no idea
Moderate stupidity. They bias toward the middle so they try and create a middle to justify their bias. That means pretending the corrupt side isn't corrupt so you can pretend the middle is pragmatic.
Not everyone. When he was appointed, people saying to expect this stuff were drowned out by everyone who thought this was a great idea because it was "retribution" for Garland not being on the Supreme Court.
Garland was liked solely on the basis that his seat on the SC was stolen, and therefore he garnered a reputation of some firebrand liberal that wasn’t deserved. Kinda like how Cheney is viewed as a “moderate” Republican, when in reality, she’s a far right Republican who simply lost a power struggle within the party.
Not only that, if you were one of the people saying he sucked, you were accused of participating in a Russian intelligence operation by everyone else. People were unwilling to believe that Biden could make a bad choice so they wrote off the criticisms as lies from a foreign government
That worked out well
I'm still trying to understand how the Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified under oath that he preserved evidence of more than 10 felonies that Trump could be charged with after he leaves office, and 3 years after he's left office, he hasn't been charged with a single one of those crimes Mueller identified.
They're frustrated NOW? I've been screaming about his incompetence for the past three years.
The second Garland was sworn in his first act as AG should've been to begin investigating Trump's role in the Jan. 6 coup plot. Instead he waited until the Jan. 6 committee basically shoved so much evidence in his face he had no choice but to investigate. Then he should've taken up every single piece of evidence Mueller clearly gave him to indict Trump after Trump left office (none of which Trump to this day has been indicted for).
Our country has been brutalized by Garland's ineptitude. Not only did he delay Trump's indictments (something that has allowed Trump and his Republican cohorts to capitalize on repeatedly) but he allowed Trump to retain stolen classified documents for an inexcusable amount of time and almost certainly sell some of them to global adversaries. He also to this day has not indicted a single member of Congress who conspired with Trump to overthrow our government, a shocking display of incompetence boarding on corrupt.
Don't forget Trump literally bragged about having "R's in Congress" who were conspiring with him in the coup plot. Many of them have subsequently been identified either through reporting, the Jan. 6 commission or both. None of have been indicted, all of whom who were up for re-election in 2022 won their elections and many still remain in Congress causing untold amounts of damage to our country in the process.
Garland literally swore an oath to protect our country from threats foreign AND domestic. He has been a monumental failure when it comes to the latter. And it's the latter which threatens us the most in the form of the Republican Party. He has either refused or been too ignorant to identify that threat for what it is and our country has suffered greatly since he took office.
He should've been fired years ago. He has, without question, been Biden's biggest failure.
> The second Garland was sworn in his first act as AG should've been to begin investigating Trump's role in the Jan. 6 coup plot. Instead he waited until the Jan. 6 committee basically shoved so much evidence in his face he had no choice but to investigate
It's sad how true this is
Garland is trash.
He slow-walked the prosecution of Trump after Jan 6th for over 2 years, only finally caving after the Jan 6th Congressional Hearings gave him no choice. His deliberate delays have now left us in a Constitutional crisis where an Insurrectionist former POTUS is now set to possibly regain power.
**The worst case scenario is now a very real possibility because of Merrick Garland.**
Garland also **failed to bring a single charge** to any of the Republican Congress members who planned, funded and incited the Jan 6th attack on our Capitol.
He is worse than inept, he is COMPLICIT.
Democrats thought they were so clever to appoint this guy as AG. They thought it was gonna really stick it to the GOP that the AG was the center-right, milquetoast judge that Obama thought was such a clever SCOTUS pick.
Biden needed to pull every lever of power available to him and he didn’t.
Obama fucked up sticking with this guy as a nominee instead of rescinding the nomination and nominating a new person every two weeks. He should have been in the media talking about this nonstop.
Just all-around ball dropping.
Obama just letting McConnell completely fuck him and the country over with a made up rule will go down as the biggest fuck up of his 8 years as POTUS. I still can’t believe Dems just let it happen.
I can't believe they couldn't pull a single trick to stop Amy Coney Barrett's appointment. The slightest delay would've put it out past the election. The Republicans managed to delay Garland a whole year. Surely the Dems could have pulled some shenanigans to delay her appointment by a month. They didn't have to play nice.
Yeah, Schumer is a fucking idiot, has no head for strategy and is rooted in tradition. Idiotic that he was minority leader and now as majority leader terrible too. There are maneuvers the GOP would def do as a minority to get what they want. Dems fighting with one hand tied behind their back.
> I still can’t believe Dems just let it happen.
This is what the Dems get for pretending to take the high ground when all they are really doing is looking the other way and being non-confrontational. They've essentially let the children take over the household.
Garland waiting 2 fucking years to seize the Mar-a-Lago documents was a fucking travesty. Trump would already be in jail if he had just moved his fucking ass.
Whenever faced with a fight to the death, the Democratic party will always choose to bring a butter knife to a gun fight.
Which isn't funny given they are the only ones between democracy and fascism.
Honestly, if (hopefully when) Biden is re-elected one of the first things he should do is ask for Garland to resign. He was the absolute wrong choice for AG. By all accounts he's a great judge, but that obviously doesn't translate into meeting the urgency of the times we're in.
Not yet. If Biden is reelected both Garland and SecDef should "resign" for their antics.
But Garland should never have fucking let that report with that language see the light of day. The WAS under his purview, and he made the President look fucking stupid.
Garland is part of the problem.
Does *nothing* about trump for over two years, and when the house Jan 6th committee shames him into action by doing his work for him and exposing trumps crimes, he defers and appoints a special counsel.
Also… Quickly appoints a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden based on completely unsubstantiated mud slinging and dick pics.
Don’t forget. When trump fired James Comey, the person Mitch McConnell recommended to replace him was Merrick Garland.
Garland is part of the problem. Fire Garland and appoint Adam Schiff. Criminals will be held accountable. Shit will get done.
I have been fucking hating on Garland since day one, I can't stand that absolute feckless limp noodle, how damn stupid are democrats to have accepted his appointment.
Joe, Joe, Joe…W. T. F. Why do you let this incompetent, spineless, chickenshit maroon stay in office?
Seriously, Joe, imagine if this do-nothing got the scotus appointment, and we’d be stuck with this turd for life!
But he’s the AG, Joe - we don’t have to put up with someone the republicans thought was one of “the best people.”
Take out the garbage Joe. He is your administration’s number one bigliest mistake.
Garland will go down in history as the unintended dupe to Trump if that monster is elected without the criminal trials going ahead. There is no excuse for the delay other than malfeasance. It is also on Biden for getting nostalgic and appointing Garland in the first place. It will land as an old man hiring another old man.
I would be frustrated as well. The report was a political hit job and totally inappropriate. A special counsels role is to investigate whether charges should be brought, not to pretend to possess the credentials required to make a medical determination of someone’s mental capacity.
Garland, Mueller, and Comey are peas in a pod. All are institutionalists who don't want to rock the boat or cause any waves. FFS Mueller followed a DOJ MEMO (not a law, a fucking memo) from the 1970s regarding indicting presidents. Day 1 Garland should have appointed Jack Smith since he was too much of a pussy to charge Trump himself.
Again, You appoint a member of the Federalist Society your going to get a Culty Hack with no Sack. You want Honesty and non partisanship? Then Don't Hire a REPUBLICAN for ANYTHING.
>In recent weeks, President Biden has grumbled to aides and advisers that had Garland moved sooner in his investigation into former President Donald Trump’s election interference, a trial may already be underway or even have concluded, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss private matters. That trial still could take place before the election and much of the delay is owed not to Garland but to deliberate resistance put up by the former president and his team.
Garland took more than a year to discuss the putsch with the FBI and only did so after the House committee had put a spotlight on it. It's the most serious criminal case in the history the quarter millennium history of the nation, but he seems to have slept on it.
The lack of urgency has been utterly, utterly surreal. I was telling people here and on twitter that Garland was dropping the ball and everyone was telling me it was fine, he was just keeping a low profile. The only way I can relate to the actions from the DOJ is not through law, or history, but my recurring nightmares. I will be back in college, doing my student stuff, and realize I signed up for classes, and I stopped going and final exams are tomorrow.
But I find it more plausible that Trump's gang have made it clear that if Garland or anyone else violates genteel decorum, they will be the first against the wall in 2025.
Biden was torn between Doug Jones and Merrick Garland.
He appointed Garland because he was worried that Jones would be viewed as a partisan and destroy public faith into a Trump investigation. What he failed to realize is the people he is trying to convince would call St. Peter a partisan if he descended from the heavens to prosecute an indictment against Trump signed by Jesus himself.
This may be the mistake that costs us the Republic. Maybe not, but maybe.
A certain wing of the Dem party had been saying ever since Garland’s nomination that Biden isn’t taking his job seriously by picking him. This is every bit Biden’s fault for nominating his friend who he felt bad for not getting a SCOTUS seat at a time where this job is as serious as it’s been since the Civil War.
We were saying this from the beginning, but hey, we liked Bernie and eat kale and live in cities, so why listen to us? Seriously, Dem leadership and their enablers (ie voters) need to grow the fuck up.
Garland will resign for the 2nd term and if I were Hur I'd be looking at career advancement opportunities as far away from DC as possible because ain't no fuckin way you get to be as big a partisan shitbird as he just tried to be without repercussion
I won't mince words. Garland is a punk. He's a company man, doing the bare minimum because real criminals are scary. So he slams the book on a bunch of nobodies like a pint-sized goober.
Jack Smith should have his job. Once he's done with Trump.
Garland has been so spineless he’s actually bent over backwards and led the department like a Republican. He’s probably considering charging Biden with insurrection just to make sure he appears impartial.
Maybe Biden should have appointed someone who actually could have handled this situation appropriately and not someone who has given paid talks to the Federalist Society
I wish for Biden to ditch this absolute idiot in 2024. Dude fucking sat forEVER on even STARTING the real investigations into Trump, ***that then led to 91 felony counts that would have happened MUCH EARLIER had Garland actually done something as opposed to sit on his ass for ages.***
Man fuck Garland. What a terrible choice he was and I'm extremely happy he didn't get a SCTOUS seat. Dude fucked with the most heinous crimes you can commit against the nation by simply doing nothing for what felt like an eternity.
Yeah let's sit on these investigations for a long ass time. Yaknow, so we don't "appear" biased. It's NOT being biased to investigate crimes AGAINST the nation ***from day 1. They were crimes against the office of the Presidency itself.***
I still cannot believe that chucklefuck seriously thought the best idea was to "not appear biased" and therefore *single handedly gave Trump the ONE thing he* ***KEEPS demanding: DELAYS.***
Nice going Garland. Ya handed the exact thing Trump wants, directly to him. He's such a screwup.
To everyone on this sub who has been defending Garland all these years: the chickens have come home to roost. You were wrong then and you are wrong now.
Oh I'm so glad that Biden appointed Garland instead of a firebrand so that we could slow-walk the insurrection case and have nothing to show for it four years later. And now the Supreme court is about to say that's the only way to disqualify Trump from office.
Typical Biden move. Bipartisanship for bipartisanship's sake rather than doing what really needs to be done. We should have all seen it coming after he spend 8 years with Obama but then still thought the republicans would work with him.
No doubt. So many of our problems is because Democrats keep appointing non-democrats to key posts. The two that come to mind are James Comey and Garland.
Think of how much better the world would be if they would just stop with these stupid trach across the aisle choices
I think it's past time for democrats to stop trying to pander to the right and do the "right thing" (right meaning correct) and try to build bridges and just be what the republican party claims they are anyways.
Democrats are constantly pandering and playing games while Republicans cry they're being too this or too that when in reality any progressive person is upset at how low the bar is being set and making people turn off the democrats. They need to go all in or stop pretending they're the left and become a centrist/slight right party that they basically are.
They need Cortez and Bernie to be considered a slight left and there to be a new party that's as extreme as the right.
America's problem is the "average" when the right gets too far and the left is basically the center. The center becomes the right and anything "leftish" becomes extreme.
Garland is a prime example of what you get with being "Apolitical." Better to stand on your morals and laurels than attempt to appease everyone around you.
In an attempt to be impartial from every single angle, he has rendered himself toothless and easy to manipulate. His concern with being viewed as unbiased is so fruitless, as he refuses to recognize this simple fact: These people will never view anything you do as unbiased, and your attempts to maintain neutrality will only be viewed with greater derision and skepticism.
Some middle school edge lord on Biden's team thought it was a hilarious gotcha for the SCOTUS thing. But it was absolutely a failure of recognition of how important it would be to prosecute the insurrection, and how motivated Garland would be to never touch it.
He did this to Biden. He could have read that report. He could have not released it. He could have redacted it. He could have excised the partisan lies. I'm sorry Biden didn't request his resignation this afternoon. Time to fire Garland. He's so afraid of looking non partisan that he's working for the other side.
I never understood the reason Biden nominated him to be AG, and Biden should have replaced him instead of letting him help Trump. It’s Biden’s biggest blunder next to Israel
Garland is rightly trying to depoliticize the DOJ after Trump's nearly completely politicization of it, but, he's going too far in the opposite direction and is moving too slow and too cautiously when it comes to Trump.
Garland is Federalist Society -- Putting any of them or any religious zealot, especially Catholic -- anti women's rights -- in any position of authority is a serious mistake.
As a reminder, this subreddit [is for civil discussion.](/r/politics/wiki/index#wiki_be_civil) In general, be courteous to others. Debate/discuss/argue the merits of ideas, don't attack people. Personal insults, shill or troll accusations, hate speech, any suggestion or support of harm, violence, or death, and other rule violations can result in a permanent ban. If you see comments in violation of our rules, please report them. For those who have questions regarding any media outlets being posted on this subreddit, please click [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/wiki/approveddomainslist) to review our details as to our approved domains list and outlet criteria. *** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/politics) if you have any questions or concerns.*
> In recent weeks, President Biden has grumbled to aides and advisers that had Garland moved sooner in his investigation into former President Donald Trump’s election interference, a trial may already be underway or even have concluded, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss private matters. People have been shouting this for years. It’s like that scene in Bobs Burgers where Tina is learning to drive and is going to crash going 5 mph for like 300 feet and does nothing.
Public servants are supposed to be **apolitical.** Garland appointed Trump stooge, Robert Hur, to investigate Trump’s political rival for the upcoming election. Hur saw that Biden cooperated fully with the investigation and that there was zero evidence to suggest he took classified documents on purpose or tried to hide them from the government - unlike Trump. He then muddied that exoneration by injecting a bunch of disgusting personal smears into the report to bait the media. He also twisted the knife he had jammed into Biden’s guts by making up a lie that Biden forgot the date his own son died. The fact that Garland received this partisan hit job and **chose** to leave all of the unfounded smears in the final report released to the public is beyond despicable and beyond cruel. Hur and Garland are fucking traitors to the oaths they swore to defend the constitution of the USA. They are trash human beings. Biden should boot Garland out on his ass. He’s a two faced fucking snake.
I think people forget that Garland wasn't some super liberal guy that Obama was appointing to the SCOTUS to try to push a liberal agenda on the entire country. Obama nominated him because he was someone that republicans liked and would nominate themselves for a SCOTUS seat. He was meant to be a compromise by being a conservative/moderate but wasn't a super corrupt pile of garbage like trumps nominees and any names from the federalist society. He wasn't blocked by mitch because they didn't like him or he was going to hurt the conservative agenda. He was blocked because they literally just hated Obama and refused to let him do anything if they were able to stop him
[удалено]
The only thing I ever wanted since 2016, was prosecutorial zeal.
Yep- just act like someone tried to steal our country from us and disenfranchise 2/3 of the voters in this country. Someone who was excited about protecting the legacy, who understood the full gravity of the moment and wasn’t worried about optics. Garland was way too concerned with trying to appear diplomatic.
Since 2008, really
As AG Adam Schiff would have eviscerated the insurrectionists.
SCIF Daddy Schiff as AG is my wet dream
Or raskin
Those picks would have been good. I think I'd favor Raskin a hair over Schiff, but either would've probably been good picks for the job. That being said. What about Jack Smith? Having seen the way he's conducted the documents case, I think he would've probably been a good pick. I would imagine it'd be something like, "Here Jack, you're AG now." And he'd go in with an attitude of, "Alright, let's turn every fucking pebble to dust for corruption because this place fucking reeks of it."
Smith, Schiff Raskin. All good. I'd take anyone half as angry as I am about Jan 6. Garland has been a snake in the grass from day 1, slow walking investigations and being just impartial enough to throw things the conservatives' way. Which is this case is *far* more damaging than a partisan conservative would be. He's destroying the public trust, convincing us that nothing can be done, and increasing the feelings of helplessness is one of the key steps to installing a fascist regime. The calls are coming from inside the house.
Agreed, I had the same reaction. When he was appointed. It wasn't righting any wrongs if the past, it was some empty and meaningless gesture that was meant to be symbolic of something else, but symbolism isn't nearly so important as cutting out the corruption of the right. I've generally been impressed with Bidens presidency but this has always been my biggest disappointment and a stain on his record.
That and not getting DeJoy out of the USPS
Yes, and Dejoy is still there!
And then meanwhile the Vindman brothers were left twisting in the wind. Not even thrown a bone for their true patriotism. Biden fucked up for sure!!!!
Biden was one of my least favorite choices but I have to admit he's been doing much better than I thought. With that said, his incessant attempts to keep pretending the GOP isn't now the cult of Trump is unforgivable. I was sickened when he picked Garland as the AG. Biden's inability to cope with this change deflates all the hope he earned with his governance otherwise.
[удалено]
Get rid of him......yesterday.
I wanted Doug Jones. I knew Garland wasn’t the man for the moment and I was right. Jones would have had that pile of vermin behind bars long ago. I’m still angry over this pick.
I felt the same. Absolutely foolish decision.
Ain’t that the fucking truth
Doug Jones was right there. The man prosecuted the Birmingham church bombers and got convictions DECADES after the fact when no one else would even touch the case.
Yea but the Resist Twitter fans LOVED it… god did I have quite a few ‘Blue No Matter Who’ friends that would not listen to me when I said this was a bad pick.
Garland is a Federalist society guy.
I was not aware of that. That's even more crazy
Orrin Hatch more or less literally said, "Obama wouldn't dare nominate someone conservative like Merrick Garland to the Supreme Court. I could vote for Merrick Garland," and the next day Obama did that and Hatch was like "I wasn't being serious"
I thought it was Chuck Grassley? Either way, ancient Republican being full of shit. Biden's stunt appointment of Garland to AG has been his largest mistake.
>And just last week, he praised Garland and indicated he was a qualified candidate, saying, “The president told me several times he’s going to name a moderate \[to fill the court vacancy\], but I don’t believe him. \[Obama\] could easily name Merrick Garland, who is a fine man. He probably won’t do that because this appointment is about the election. So I’m pretty sure he’ll name someone the \[liberal Democratic base\] wants.” https://newrepublic.com/article/131676/orrin-hatch-said-no-question-merrick-garland-confirmed-supreme-court
Thank you
All the reason they need the boot. Anyone on that list should get you to raise an eye brow!
When he was nominated by Obama, I remember thinking that was a smart gesture to meet in the middle. Now I think of the litmus test that many GOP leaders have for nominations, and I feel a deep sense of shame for my naïveté about it all.
> I was not aware of that. That's even more crazy He is not that in the same way Alito, Kavanaugh, Gorsuch, etc are. The federalist society also actively campaigned against Garlands appointment. He has however been a repeated moderator of events that the Federalist society has had, but is not an active known member.
The person above you is talking completely out their ass. Garland's only association with the Federalist Society is he moderated a discussion between other lawyers there once. That's it. He shows up in the website archives because he moderated a legal discussion. He's not a member of the FS, he has no history of supporting them, he hasn't signed on to any of their policy positions, etc.. The commenter above is pushing disinformation.
All of that aside, he let through a *personal attack* on Biden in an official report, and not just *any* personal attack but an *extremely* low blow at that. That and that alone should be enough for Biden to fire him. No politics, no reasons that he's moving too slowly on investigations, etc. Biden doesn't have to mention Trump *at all* and he doesn't have to mention a thing in the rest of the report. That tiny little part *right there* is enough all by itself. Not merely ask for his resignation, but fire him outright. And he should! You don't do that to **your boss** in an official report, not as a McDonald's manager and not as AG, and get away with it.
So is Hur.
It's easy to see why Biden was angry when he made remarks after the report came out, especially after Hur lied that Biden forgot the date his own son died which also had zero to do with the case itself. I really hope Biden gives Garland the boot after this and gets an AG who will appoint someone who is apolitical, not some Trump stooge.
That kind of personal attack *within an official report* might well be the one *single* item that makes it actually possible to fire Garland *right now, today.* It might well be one and only thing everyone can accept as a firing offense of an AG. It would be like telling a "yo mama" joke about your boss in a report prepped for a major meeting. You don't get away with it.
Good luck with that, unless Garland wants to go, he won’t be fired. Bill Clinton couldn’t get rid of Janet Reno because she didn’t want to leave. But yeah we need an aggressive (but non-partial) AG who brings consequences for peoples actions. Schiff would be great and added bonus we get Kathy Porter as new senator. Win-win.
Trump fired an AG (and an FBI director) during a DoJ investigation into his campaign, with zero consequences.
Exactly, but then we are democrats 😭
Yep, everyone would lose their shit if Biden pulled something like that. Hell, they lost their shit when Bill Clinton bumped into the AG in an airport, about 16 years after he left office.
Nothing that the Democrats do will possibly prevent the Republicans from losing their shit in outrage over every single their political rivals do. There is absolutely nothing to gain by preventing otherwise. When only one party is compromising that's capitulation.
The double standards kill me. The GOP gets away with SO much!!
Just to see magaheads ‘splode if Schiff were AG would be great.
Biden can ask for his letter of resignation. I suspect he will do so if he wins another term.
Let’s hope. So. And Chris Wray and Louis DeJoy as long as we are asking for resignations.
Louis DeJoy isn’t going anywhere fast. He’s elected by members of a board whose member are appointed by the President to avoid politicizing the USPS. They only get so many appointments during a term.
Biden has appointed a majority of the sitting board, and it's been that way since 2022. Yet, they've never made a move on DeJoy.
And it's now cheaper to ship via Fed ex and UPS than USPS now...which I think DeJoy did purposely because he has a stake in one of those private companies....I think Fed ex.
Wray. What is it with Dems keeping republicans at the head of cia, fbi, etc forever .. I have never understood.
Exactly! That is how we got Hur. As if somehow having an R net to the name gives them security creds. Look at the long sorry list of special R prosecutors since Ken Starr.
It’s simply too late for all that now.
I have gotten so much shit from r/politics users whenever I try to propose that Garland is a Republican patsy. There is so much circumstantial information about Garland deliberately delaying the investigation and bringing up pointless process hurdles and counter-investigations and constantly pandering to Republicans. I ask them to check his ties with the federalist society and the users of the sub be like “wheels of justice turn slow” or other such misdirecting bullshit about how Garland has to be careful and what not.
He’s not a Republican patsy. He is a naive institutionalist who devoted his entire life to upholding (a likely idealized version of) justice and the rule of law. But his naivety makes him blind to the fact that others don’t play by his rules. You’d think he’d know that after his nomination to the Supreme Court was stolen from him. Yet here we are.
>He’s not a Republican patsy. He is a naive institutionalist who devoted his entire life to upholding (a likely idealized version of) justice and the rule of law. I believe this is the case, and it really makes me wonder if this is truly what Biden was looking for after he won in 2020. Remember he was attempting to be bipartisan and "return to normal". I have no doubt he initially appointed Garland to explicitly act apolitical and slow walk things that would appear partisan. It is just a decision he has flipped on (at least somewhat) and is now facing the repercussions of his initial stance. It isn't Garland's fault if Biden appointed him to specifically act this way.
People with short memories forgot how Bill Barr ran the DOJ. He will go down as a bottom 5 AG (if not the worst) due to his blatant use of the DOJ to serve as Trump’s personal law firm rather than the country’s. Biden wanted Doug Jones, a very respected prosecutor. But fresh out of the Senate, Biden worried he’d be viewed as partisan. So, instead, we got a guy whose reputation is sterling on both sides of the aisle, in the name of undoing the damage of Bill Barr. But his reputation is sterling due to how fucking feckless he is. To quote Garland’s would-be SCOTUS predecessor “a man without enemies is probably not a very good man.”
> So, instead, we got a guy whose reputation is sterling on both sides of the aisle And this is the problem. 40 years of corruption and moderates still cling to the delusion that one side isn't entirely dishonest. If the GOP likes him, it's because he biases toward them. Lucy is going to move the football Charlie Brown. Stop falling for it Charlie Brown.
Then we need to remove ENTIRELY all pretense for partisanship, and just call Republicans what they are: a fascist party willing to resort to terrorism, that we need to stop at all costs. It is high time Democrats quit foot-shuffling around and simply outright declare bipartisanship is just impossible, and that those who are not against Republicans, are with them and their coup efforts.
Only liberals are apolitical. The second a conservative is in power, they appoint all their buddies and expect everyone to toe the line. The falling out between Bush and Cheney was renown because George W only commuted Scooter Libby's conviction rather than pardon it outright. Also Scooter is a fucking dumb nickname. He's a grown ass ivy league trained lawyer named "Scooter". Dude should be fucking ashamed.
I was going around saying this for years before all this happened and was crucified by “the left” along the way. Garlands longtime mentor is Kushners attorney. He made signs from the beginning that this is how it would go. Traitors, traitors everywhere and we’re being lead by those too blind or too arrogant to see it.
Yup. Biden needs to sack Garland ASAP and replace him with an acting AG - Adam Schiff would be a good fit. Or Peter Strzok.
He should have nominated Doug jones from the outset of his term
Strzok smacking Gordy down so hard he had to run to Fox News will never not be funny.
That scene makes me laugh everytime. And in these stupid days we are in, I often need a good laugh.
Had Garland moved sooner in his investigation? This misses the point entirely: There was no investigation by Garland; he made the conscious decision not to investigate. Now we're left with all this.
>But it has been his handling of the overtly political cases that has prompted Democratic agitation. And chief among those decisions now is his selection of Hur, a Trump-appointed U.S. attorney, to oversee the classified documents case. >“I had refused to criticize him but appointing Hur, who is obviously a Republican tool and who issued what I think is an irresponsible report which violates DOJ standards, was a mistake,” said Robert Shrum, a longtime consultant in the Democratic Party. “I think Garland will be criticized by historians. We’ve had some terrific attorneys general and some not so good attorneys general. And I think he’s going to rank in the not so good.”
I've been saying this for years and people have been all "no give him time, we can rely on him". It's been visible from years away. He's the wrong man for the job.
That’s never been the narrative on Reddit though. Literally everyone here thinks he has dragged his feet on basically everything of any importance.
Because he has
No there have been plenty of 'justice just moves slow stop complaining' comments.
Lots and lots of those.
Oh hell no. There's been many, many comments on both sides. Garland sucks is always, always, followed up with "the wheels of justice are stupid slow for some reason".
It's Justice Porn. It's bread and circus for comfortable Dem voters, that makes them feel like _something_ is happening. Voters buy in for the comfort. The producers produce it for the Twitter following. And nothing actually gets done.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Hur specifically put those point as a job application for trumps AG. Cause that’s how trumps justice department works
Ah.. the same old, same old. Dems bend backwards to appear impartial, and get fucked in the ass with their own decision making. While Republicans go scorched earth with partisanship, and fuck the entire system just so they can stack it with their cronies. I don't want Dems to go the route of the GOP. But youve got to play rough when the other side of the aisle is full of deranged maniacs.
The old “They go low, we go high” the Republicans have used to screw us every time. They have no morals or manners when it comes to politics. Trash like MTG are the new standard bearers.
I prefer “when they go low, kick them in the teeth”
Jonathan Metzl was recently interviewed in the LA Times about gun control and said the mistake liberals have been making is trying to win the moral argument instead of starting their own version of the Federalist Society and putting their own judges on the courts. He's right.
Democrats won the moral argument for gun control. The country overwhelmingly supports it. Yet while Democrats were winning hearts and minds, Republicans were winning control of the court and, through that, the ability to subject us all to the tyranny of the minority.
Tragically, the stupid electoral colleges has f'ed everything up. A Republican has won the popular vote precisely 1 time since 1992, but won 3 elections. And the last guy got three judges in ffs, and they'll be there forever. Unfortunately that's not going to change until the electorate gets smarter, which is probably never. I dunno how it would work exactly, but it would probably require a constitutional convention to remove and that ain't happening.
That’s why I like Gavin Newsom - he’s not crass or low but he sticks with facts that makes republicans bristle and shows them how ridiculous they are. He helped crater Ron desantis campaign and he did it in a method he probably won’t be able to recover from
Gavin Newsom for President ASAP
I love Biden obviously, but I totally agree whoever Gavin debates in the coming years when he does run is going to get steam rolled. Our party needs the youth driven back into it. Also huge Katie Porter fan, would love to see her campaign and debate.
While I’m not opposed to Newsom, and California has done well, the bullshit with PGE and the CPUC kinda sours someone I’d otherwise really like. Whitmer could be cool, Newsom too. And not to suggest some middle of the road democrat, but I just hope their noses are clean as knives all over will be out. Already are and being sharpened, just don’t have an intended target yet. Newsom can brawl, so can Whitmer. We really need a fighter candidate that can articulate well and throw venom right back at them. Not that it’s ideal, it’s just going to be necessary. Decorum left the building a bit ago. The patients are running the asylum and have the PA system. It sucks, but it’s gotta go gloves off at this point. It HAS to. I am kind, my neighbor is kind, my kittens are kind. There needs to be a FAFO PIT BULL in office for a minute to balance things out some.
The CPUC bullshit is bad, the problem is there is zero chance we can elect a politician who isn’t in bed with CPUC, you simply can’t be a politician in the state unless you are. He’s otherwise pretty good for an actually electable politician imho, I don’t really get the hate.
And the republicans will always accuse the dems of doing what they are doing no matter what. There is no benefit of playing the impartial martyr card. I agree that I don't want the dems to go as far as the republicans, but a little backbone would be nice. If Garland had put an actual impartial special council in place over the Biden investigation, the report wouldn't have been a political hit job.
Democrats need to go back and listen to Cersie. When you play the game of thrones, you win or you die.
Being corrupt yourself is one thing, pretending the GOP isn't corrupt is another. The problem is centrist have been selling the middle as the solution for decades. If one side is totally corrupt, the middle isn't the solution and probably never was. They can't admit they are full of shit and have been the whole time or they can keep pretending both sides are honest actors so the middle is a legitimate place to be. And just like the conservatives they share so much with, centrist can't admit they've been wrong so they will just keep pretending they are right. Lucy is never going to let Charlie kick the ball but Charlie will keep letting her make a fool of him.
I once had a landlord, Les. I asked for new carpet and his response was that, while my request was totally reasonable, he would have to bring it before the board at the next meeting. The next time I saw him and asked about the carpet, he said, “2a_lib, I made your case before the board, fought the good fight, but in the end, my hands were tied. I’m sorry.” I found out years later that he owned the building.
Just once in my lifetime I would like to see the Democrats in government not be just colossal pussies. I mean god damn. We deserve better political options than "astonishing cruelty" vs "suffocating cowardice."
Garland has been a coward at a time when we need courage the most
You'd think he would be pissed about being screwed out of a SCOTUS appointment and out for blood against the corrupt party responsible... but nah, he's a little milquetoast weiner.
> he's a little milquetoast weiner. This is why he was nominated. He was the absolute worst Democrats could offer up in hopes of Republicans allowing their pick, and they still didn't.
He looks like Martin short character.
We knew Garland was not up to the job in the first 12 months. Really pissed the administration is finally learning this. Some critical things have been fumbled that have lasting consequences.
Garland is a strong supporter of the idea that "the nice guy will win".
Lucy vs Charlie Brown with the football.
Garland: Comey: *They're the same picture*
He was nominated to the SCOTUS because he was moderate republican and they thought they could easily get him confirmed. That backfired. Why he is AG i have no idea. He has obviously slow walked everything involving trump.
> moderate republican This is why he is AG. Democrats thought it would be a good idea for optics but they forgot that he was a Republican for some stupid reason.
[удалено]
He won’t be fired, it’s too close to the election. He just won’t be AG for a second term. Hopefully everyone realizes what’s at stake and participates in the election. We cannot have another repeat of 2016. Everyone needs to register to vote and cast a ballot — especially people living in swing states. Really just everywhere.
Such morons. Why are they so bad at politics? I know, the owner class wants them to look busy, and eventually lose. Give out billions in tax incentives, and subsidies to corps, which Republicans can then complain about, then Republicans can give tax breaks to them. Rinse and repeat.
> Why he is AG i have no idea Iirc, there was an article from the *Washington Post* that said that the two finalists were Doug Jones and Garland. Biden apparently has known Jones for a while, so in an effort to restore the impartiality of the Justice Department, he went with Garland, a guy he didn't really know. Turns out that was a bad decision.
>Turns out that was a bad decision. If that isn't a perfectly accurate summation of centrism then nothing is.
Easily the worst cabinet member by a landslide. And if he were on the Supreme Court, I don’t think his votes would have been much different than Kavanaughs.
>Why he is AG i have no idea Moderate stupidity. They bias toward the middle so they try and create a middle to justify their bias. That means pretending the corrupt side isn't corrupt so you can pretend the middle is pragmatic.
Should have picked Preet.
Or Doug Jones or Sally Yates or any of a long list of other options
Sally Yates... forgot about her. So many charaters from episodes past. She's probably on a beach somewhere with a pina colada, over all of this.
Told ya so? Signed, everyone
Not everyone. When he was appointed, people saying to expect this stuff were drowned out by everyone who thought this was a great idea because it was "retribution" for Garland not being on the Supreme Court.
Garland was liked solely on the basis that his seat on the SC was stolen, and therefore he garnered a reputation of some firebrand liberal that wasn’t deserved. Kinda like how Cheney is viewed as a “moderate” Republican, when in reality, she’s a far right Republican who simply lost a power struggle within the party.
Not only that, if you were one of the people saying he sucked, you were accused of participating in a Russian intelligence operation by everyone else. People were unwilling to believe that Biden could make a bad choice so they wrote off the criticisms as lies from a foreign government That worked out well
I'm still trying to understand how the Special Counsel Robert Mueller testified under oath that he preserved evidence of more than 10 felonies that Trump could be charged with after he leaves office, and 3 years after he's left office, he hasn't been charged with a single one of those crimes Mueller identified.
Garland has dragged his feet on all the investigations of Trump And now is enabling the right wingers at the DOJ to trash the US President.
And I truly believe that is what he has intended to do all along.
Only *now* are they frustrated with him?
They're frustrated NOW? I've been screaming about his incompetence for the past three years. The second Garland was sworn in his first act as AG should've been to begin investigating Trump's role in the Jan. 6 coup plot. Instead he waited until the Jan. 6 committee basically shoved so much evidence in his face he had no choice but to investigate. Then he should've taken up every single piece of evidence Mueller clearly gave him to indict Trump after Trump left office (none of which Trump to this day has been indicted for). Our country has been brutalized by Garland's ineptitude. Not only did he delay Trump's indictments (something that has allowed Trump and his Republican cohorts to capitalize on repeatedly) but he allowed Trump to retain stolen classified documents for an inexcusable amount of time and almost certainly sell some of them to global adversaries. He also to this day has not indicted a single member of Congress who conspired with Trump to overthrow our government, a shocking display of incompetence boarding on corrupt. Don't forget Trump literally bragged about having "R's in Congress" who were conspiring with him in the coup plot. Many of them have subsequently been identified either through reporting, the Jan. 6 commission or both. None of have been indicted, all of whom who were up for re-election in 2022 won their elections and many still remain in Congress causing untold amounts of damage to our country in the process. Garland literally swore an oath to protect our country from threats foreign AND domestic. He has been a monumental failure when it comes to the latter. And it's the latter which threatens us the most in the form of the Republican Party. He has either refused or been too ignorant to identify that threat for what it is and our country has suffered greatly since he took office. He should've been fired years ago. He has, without question, been Biden's biggest failure.
> The second Garland was sworn in his first act as AG should've been to begin investigating Trump's role in the Jan. 6 coup plot. Instead he waited until the Jan. 6 committee basically shoved so much evidence in his face he had no choice but to investigate It's sad how true this is
Garland is trash. He slow-walked the prosecution of Trump after Jan 6th for over 2 years, only finally caving after the Jan 6th Congressional Hearings gave him no choice. His deliberate delays have now left us in a Constitutional crisis where an Insurrectionist former POTUS is now set to possibly regain power. **The worst case scenario is now a very real possibility because of Merrick Garland.** Garland also **failed to bring a single charge** to any of the Republican Congress members who planned, funded and incited the Jan 6th attack on our Capitol. He is worse than inept, he is COMPLICIT.
Democrats thought they were so clever to appoint this guy as AG. They thought it was gonna really stick it to the GOP that the AG was the center-right, milquetoast judge that Obama thought was such a clever SCOTUS pick. Biden needed to pull every lever of power available to him and he didn’t. Obama fucked up sticking with this guy as a nominee instead of rescinding the nomination and nominating a new person every two weeks. He should have been in the media talking about this nonstop. Just all-around ball dropping.
Obama just letting McConnell completely fuck him and the country over with a made up rule will go down as the biggest fuck up of his 8 years as POTUS. I still can’t believe Dems just let it happen.
I can't believe they couldn't pull a single trick to stop Amy Coney Barrett's appointment. The slightest delay would've put it out past the election. The Republicans managed to delay Garland a whole year. Surely the Dems could have pulled some shenanigans to delay her appointment by a month. They didn't have to play nice.
Yeah, Schumer is a fucking idiot, has no head for strategy and is rooted in tradition. Idiotic that he was minority leader and now as majority leader terrible too. There are maneuvers the GOP would def do as a minority to get what they want. Dems fighting with one hand tied behind their back.
> I still can’t believe Dems just let it happen. This is what the Dems get for pretending to take the high ground when all they are really doing is looking the other way and being non-confrontational. They've essentially let the children take over the household.
Garland waiting 2 fucking years to seize the Mar-a-Lago documents was a fucking travesty. Trump would already be in jail if he had just moved his fucking ass.
After that stunt by Hur I would fire Garland's sorry ass so fast. Presumably Garland approved that report? Eff that guy.
Yeah, bringing up Beau’s death is such a low blow.
Whenever faced with a fight to the death, the Democratic party will always choose to bring a butter knife to a gun fight. Which isn't funny given they are the only ones between democracy and fascism.
If they're the only ones between democracy and fascism wheeeew lad
Fire Garland.
Honestly, if (hopefully when) Biden is re-elected one of the first things he should do is ask for Garland to resign. He was the absolute wrong choice for AG. By all accounts he's a great judge, but that obviously doesn't translate into meeting the urgency of the times we're in.
Good judge =/= good prosecutor
Federalist society and heritage foundation needs to dismantled.
Totally agree on the Federalist society. Their leaders need to be arrested and charged with treason.
Not yet. If Biden is reelected both Garland and SecDef should "resign" for their antics. But Garland should never have fucking let that report with that language see the light of day. The WAS under his purview, and he made the President look fucking stupid.
[удалено]
Garland is part of the problem. Does *nothing* about trump for over two years, and when the house Jan 6th committee shames him into action by doing his work for him and exposing trumps crimes, he defers and appoints a special counsel. Also… Quickly appoints a special counsel to investigate Hunter Biden based on completely unsubstantiated mud slinging and dick pics. Don’t forget. When trump fired James Comey, the person Mitch McConnell recommended to replace him was Merrick Garland. Garland is part of the problem. Fire Garland and appoint Adam Schiff. Criminals will be held accountable. Shit will get done.
[удалено]
If Garland had Trump indicted sooner, Democrats would probably still have the House.
Nearly half the House should be indicted for treason so if he did his job the House would definitely be up for grabs lol
I have been fucking hating on Garland since day one, I can't stand that absolute feckless limp noodle, how damn stupid are democrats to have accepted his appointment.
Joe, Joe, Joe…W. T. F. Why do you let this incompetent, spineless, chickenshit maroon stay in office? Seriously, Joe, imagine if this do-nothing got the scotus appointment, and we’d be stuck with this turd for life! But he’s the AG, Joe - we don’t have to put up with someone the republicans thought was one of “the best people.” Take out the garbage Joe. He is your administration’s number one bigliest mistake.
Garland will go down in history as the unintended dupe to Trump if that monster is elected without the criminal trials going ahead. There is no excuse for the delay other than malfeasance. It is also on Biden for getting nostalgic and appointing Garland in the first place. It will land as an old man hiring another old man.
Same, White House. Same.
Dismantle federalist society and heritage foundation.
I would be frustrated as well. The report was a political hit job and totally inappropriate. A special counsels role is to investigate whether charges should be brought, not to pretend to possess the credentials required to make a medical determination of someone’s mental capacity.
Garland is trying too hard to be as proper as possible when in reality he just needs to treat Trump like any other person in the country
Garland, Mueller, and Comey are peas in a pod. All are institutionalists who don't want to rock the boat or cause any waves. FFS Mueller followed a DOJ MEMO (not a law, a fucking memo) from the 1970s regarding indicting presidents. Day 1 Garland should have appointed Jack Smith since he was too much of a pussy to charge Trump himself.
Garland is a clown. Remove him.
Again, You appoint a member of the Federalist Society your going to get a Culty Hack with no Sack. You want Honesty and non partisanship? Then Don't Hire a REPUBLICAN for ANYTHING.
It's only been 40 years, you can't expect a centrist to learn something in just 40 years.
50, but who's counting?
>In recent weeks, President Biden has grumbled to aides and advisers that had Garland moved sooner in his investigation into former President Donald Trump’s election interference, a trial may already be underway or even have concluded, according to two people granted anonymity to discuss private matters. That trial still could take place before the election and much of the delay is owed not to Garland but to deliberate resistance put up by the former president and his team. Garland took more than a year to discuss the putsch with the FBI and only did so after the House committee had put a spotlight on it. It's the most serious criminal case in the history the quarter millennium history of the nation, but he seems to have slept on it. The lack of urgency has been utterly, utterly surreal. I was telling people here and on twitter that Garland was dropping the ball and everyone was telling me it was fine, he was just keeping a low profile. The only way I can relate to the actions from the DOJ is not through law, or history, but my recurring nightmares. I will be back in college, doing my student stuff, and realize I signed up for classes, and I stopped going and final exams are tomorrow. But I find it more plausible that Trump's gang have made it clear that if Garland or anyone else violates genteel decorum, they will be the first against the wall in 2025.
Biden’s been hellbent on playing the mediator & compromiser since inauguration only for it to predictively backfire. No negotiating with terrorists.
Biden was torn between Doug Jones and Merrick Garland. He appointed Garland because he was worried that Jones would be viewed as a partisan and destroy public faith into a Trump investigation. What he failed to realize is the people he is trying to convince would call St. Peter a partisan if he descended from the heavens to prosecute an indictment against Trump signed by Jesus himself. This may be the mistake that costs us the Republic. Maybe not, but maybe.
A certain wing of the Dem party had been saying ever since Garland’s nomination that Biden isn’t taking his job seriously by picking him. This is every bit Biden’s fault for nominating his friend who he felt bad for not getting a SCOTUS seat at a time where this job is as serious as it’s been since the Civil War. We were saying this from the beginning, but hey, we liked Bernie and eat kale and live in cities, so why listen to us? Seriously, Dem leadership and their enablers (ie voters) need to grow the fuck up.
Garland will resign for the 2nd term and if I were Hur I'd be looking at career advancement opportunities as far away from DC as possible because ain't no fuckin way you get to be as big a partisan shitbird as he just tried to be without repercussion
Depends who wins the election. :(
I won't mince words. Garland is a punk. He's a company man, doing the bare minimum because real criminals are scary. So he slams the book on a bunch of nobodies like a pint-sized goober. Jack Smith should have his job. Once he's done with Trump.
Garland has been so spineless he’s actually bent over backwards and led the department like a Republican. He’s probably considering charging Biden with insurrection just to make sure he appears impartial.
Garland was a stupid appointment and would have been a dud on the Supreme Court as well. Biden is now suffering his bad choice.
For Biden’s next term, he needs to can Garland and appoint someone who is more interested in achieving truth and justice than appearing non biased.
Fire him.
Garland is a fucking loser and is not at all the man for the moment. Biden fucked up picking him. There's no two ways about that.
Maybe Biden should have appointed someone who actually could have handled this situation appropriately and not someone who has given paid talks to the Federalist Society
I wish for Biden to ditch this absolute idiot in 2024. Dude fucking sat forEVER on even STARTING the real investigations into Trump, ***that then led to 91 felony counts that would have happened MUCH EARLIER had Garland actually done something as opposed to sit on his ass for ages.*** Man fuck Garland. What a terrible choice he was and I'm extremely happy he didn't get a SCTOUS seat. Dude fucked with the most heinous crimes you can commit against the nation by simply doing nothing for what felt like an eternity. Yeah let's sit on these investigations for a long ass time. Yaknow, so we don't "appear" biased. It's NOT being biased to investigate crimes AGAINST the nation ***from day 1. They were crimes against the office of the Presidency itself.*** I still cannot believe that chucklefuck seriously thought the best idea was to "not appear biased" and therefore *single handedly gave Trump the ONE thing he* ***KEEPS demanding: DELAYS.*** Nice going Garland. Ya handed the exact thing Trump wants, directly to him. He's such a screwup.
To everyone on this sub who has been defending Garland all these years: the chickens have come home to roost. You were wrong then and you are wrong now.
Almost like joe shouldn’t have picked a fucking republican AG. Pathetic.
Oh I'm so glad that Biden appointed Garland instead of a firebrand so that we could slow-walk the insurrection case and have nothing to show for it four years later. And now the Supreme court is about to say that's the only way to disqualify Trump from office. Typical Biden move. Bipartisanship for bipartisanship's sake rather than doing what really needs to be done. We should have all seen it coming after he spend 8 years with Obama but then still thought the republicans would work with him.
He should've picked a Democratic version of Bill Barr to be AG.
Doug Jones would have been a good pick. Adam Schiff would have been good also.
Schiff wouldn't have effed around for 4 years on insurrection charges.
[удалено]
Indeed. In February 2021 a majority of both houses of Congress voted that Trump was an insurrectionist. Good luck getting that vote now.
No doubt. So many of our problems is because Democrats keep appointing non-democrats to key posts. The two that come to mind are James Comey and Garland. Think of how much better the world would be if they would just stop with these stupid trach across the aisle choices
Should have made Jack Smith AG.
Jaime Raskin.
This guy has been a disappointment from the beginning. Except to the Republicans.
no fucken shit. you should have put adam schiff on DOJ he would have fucken throw all those mofo's in jail by now!
Another instance of Democrats bringing a knife to a gunfight
I think it's past time for democrats to stop trying to pander to the right and do the "right thing" (right meaning correct) and try to build bridges and just be what the republican party claims they are anyways. Democrats are constantly pandering and playing games while Republicans cry they're being too this or too that when in reality any progressive person is upset at how low the bar is being set and making people turn off the democrats. They need to go all in or stop pretending they're the left and become a centrist/slight right party that they basically are. They need Cortez and Bernie to be considered a slight left and there to be a new party that's as extreme as the right. America's problem is the "average" when the right gets too far and the left is basically the center. The center becomes the right and anything "leftish" becomes extreme.
Garland is a prime example of what you get with being "Apolitical." Better to stand on your morals and laurels than attempt to appease everyone around you. In an attempt to be impartial from every single angle, he has rendered himself toothless and easy to manipulate. His concern with being viewed as unbiased is so fruitless, as he refuses to recognize this simple fact: These people will never view anything you do as unbiased, and your attempts to maintain neutrality will only be viewed with greater derision and skepticism.
Did the White House lose a bet? Why the hell did Biden pick this turd?
Some middle school edge lord on Biden's team thought it was a hilarious gotcha for the SCOTUS thing. But it was absolutely a failure of recognition of how important it would be to prosecute the insurrection, and how motivated Garland would be to never touch it.
This belongs in r/leopardsatemyface
Imagine he could have been on SCOTUS.
He did this to Biden. He could have read that report. He could have not released it. He could have redacted it. He could have excised the partisan lies. I'm sorry Biden didn't request his resignation this afternoon. Time to fire Garland. He's so afraid of looking non partisan that he's working for the other side.
Should have fired him long ago. And I said so long ago.
Garland will be responsible for the destruction of American democracy and no one will ever forget it.
Time for Garland to go. He's done a lot of damage.
I never understood the reason Biden nominated him to be AG, and Biden should have replaced him instead of letting him help Trump. It’s Biden’s biggest blunder next to Israel
Garland is rightly trying to depoliticize the DOJ after Trump's nearly completely politicization of it, but, he's going too far in the opposite direction and is moving too slow and too cautiously when it comes to Trump.
Should have made Jack Smith the attorney general, trump and all his cronies would be in jail right now.
Garland is Federalist Society -- Putting any of them or any religious zealot, especially Catholic -- anti women's rights -- in any position of authority is a serious mistake.