Here’s why Steve Bannon and other indicted Trump people can’t just “run out the clock”
There’s been a lot of hand wringing about this, but to be clear, January 6th Committee witnesses who are indicted for contempt cannot just “run out the clock” until 2022 and magically get away with it all. Even if the Republicans win the midterms, the DOJ will continue prosecuting any criminal referrals they’ve already received.
Nor can these indicted witnesses just “run out the clock” until 2024. What are they going to do, eagerly rot in prison for a couple years on the faint hope that Donald Trump somehow wins the 2024 election, in the hope he’ll then pardon them? That’s not any sort of a win for them. Besides, those indicted for contempt are looking at two years in prison maximum. Their sentences would be over before the 2024 election anyway.
It’s more important than ever to keep in mind that there are no magic wands when it comes to this sort of thing. None of these Trump people want to go to prison. None of them want to be indicted and put on trial (it’s a costly nightmare). None of them can raise nearly as much money from Trump’s idiot base as they’ll be forced to spend on their lawyers and such.
Trump’s people will talk this way, sure. The one thing they understand is that if they act like they’re somehow secretly magically winning even when they’re getting their butts kicked, we might be inclined to fall for it, and then we’ll be too paralyzed with fear to bother trying to fight and win political battles. The most important thing we can do to finish off losers like Bannon, Meadows, and Trump is to keep driving home the fact that they’re losing. That’s how we pull the plug on what’s left of them.
