No, the DOJ isn’t being “weak” in its ongoing pursuit of Donald Trump’s remaining stolen classified documents
When something like the DOJ’s criminal probe into Donald Trump for stealing classified documents is happening, it plays out on two entirely different tracks. First there’s the actual track, in the real world, where the DOJ is using sophisticated investigative tactics to try to achieve the best possible outcome. Then there’s the imaginary track, where pundits on Twitter (and sometimes even MSNBC) spew the most simplistic and ridiculous spin they can come up with, in the hope of appealing to audiences’ sense of outrage.
We find ourselves facing these parallel universes yet again with the news that the DOJ has asked Donald Trump to return the remaining classified documents that didn’t turn up in the Mar-a-Lago search and seizure. The very worst of pundits are jumping on the opportunity to accuse the DOJ of “weakness” and being too clueless to just search Trump’s other properties, and being too “timid” to just “arrest Trump right now!”
Of course this is all complete idiocy. DOJ filings long ago confirmed that it cultivated secret cooperators within Mar-a-Lago to help it track down precisely where documents were hidden within the property, before going in and retrieving them. That way the DOJ ensured that it found and seized all the documents at Mar-a-Lago in one shot, eliminating the opportunity for Trump to go back and offload or destroy any documents it didn’t find during the initial search.
Given this information, it’s obvious that the DOJ would also have tried to cultivate cooperators at Trump’s other properties, in order to determine if any classified documents were there, and precisely where they were. If the DOJ were unsuccessful in attempting to find cooperators at those properties, it wouldn’t have left anything to chance, and it obviously would have searched those properties at the same time it searched Mar-a-Lago.
So it’s not difficult to figure out that the DOJ did succeed in cultivating cooperators at Trump’s other properties. Further, these cooperators surely either have an eye on any classified documents that are there, and the DOJ has unknown strategic reasons for not having gone into take them yet, or (more likely) these cooperators have confirmed that there never were any such documents at Trump’s other properties.
In other words, if you accept that Trump is corrupt enough to give or sell classified documents to bad people, then it’s not difficult to figure out that he probably did so before leaving office. These documents are not at any of his properties, and never were, and are instead out there in the hands of unknown entities. For awhile now, the DOJ’s entire cat and mouse game has seemed aimed at getting Trump and/or his inept lawyers to unwittingly give up clues about who has those other documents. It’s surely part of why the DOJ has invoked the unusual strategy of baiting Trump’s attorneys into falsely claiming there were no more documents at Mar-a-Lago when there were. It means Trump’s attorneys now feel pressure to flip on him, and if Trump has told them who has the missing documents, then the DOJ gets to find out.
To that end, even as the DOJ is known to be actively working with the seized classified documents to construct its criminal case against Donald Trump, it’s not difficult to parse why the DOJ has decided to simply ask Trump and his lawyers to return the still-missing documents. It lets Trump and his lawyers know that the DOJ knows there are documents still missing. It forces Trump to respond, and in the condition he’s in these days, he often unwittingly gives things away whenever he opens his mouth. It also lets Trump’s lawyers know that they’re in even deeper over their heads in an espionage scandal, and that they should seriously consider cooperating against Trump.
None of this is particularly difficult to follow, right? Goading Trump and/or his team to cough up the secret locations of the remaining classified documents is the DOJ’s priority, and Trump – who is surely under surveillance as part of the espionage probe into him – will simply be arrested at the end of this.
But the above logic requires at least a few minutes of critical thinking, and certainly doesn’t fit into a tweet, and perhaps most importantly doesn’t allow outrage addicts in the audience to feel outrage. So instead it all gets discarded, in favor of angrily yelling simplistically idiotic things like “Why is the DOJ too timid to search Trump’s other properties” and “arrest Trump right now!!!”
Of course the pundits who yell these things know darn well that it’s all gibberish. There is no universe in which the DOJ is fearless enough to search Trump’s home and seize items from it, but somehow too timid to search Trump’s other two homes. That’s a laugh out loud silly notion, and obviously isn’t what’s going on here. But “Why is the DOJ too timid to search Trump’s other properties” fits in a tweet, and it induces enough outrage to instantly go viral before anyone even stops to think about how stupid it is, so the worst of pundits keep spewing this nonsense.
As for the chants of “arrest Trump right now,” that wouldn’t somehow magically cause the still-missing classified documents to be retrieved. If anything Trump would spitefully clam up after his arrest, and we’d never find out who has those remaining documents. This isn’t a cliched movie where the bad guy says “since you’ve arrested me anyway, I’ll just tell you who I sold the rest of the classified documents to.” This is real life, where Trump’s arrest will likely just make him realize he’s got to go quiet and prepare reasonable doubt defenses for criminal trial.
But again, why try to logically parse what’s actually going on and figure out the DOJ’s strategy, when you can instead just tweet stupid outrage-inducing nonsense about how the DOJ should be instantly acting upon your silly magic wand idea? The problem is that these kinds of outrage-inducing idiot takes aren’t just restricted to social media. Two of the dumbest takes on the latest DOJ news, from two former prosecutors who absolutely know better, found their way into an article today on a fairly major news site. So again, why should pundits try to focus on educating people on how things really work, when they can just tweet simplistic outrage-inducing nonsense and get rewarded for it?
That’s why it ends up being your job to fend off this of simplistic nonsense when you see it. It’s nearly always based on the premise that there’s some silly magic wand idea that would somehow magically fix everything, and that the people in charge (the DOJ, or the January 6th Committee, or Biden, or the Democrats) are simply too timid to wave that magic wand. These bullshit takes are aimed at making the person spewing them look smarter and fiercer than the people in charge, and it only serves to sabotage how you view your own side’s leaders. It’s always aimed at making you so outraged at your own side’s leaders, you don’t even stop to think through how idiotic the pundit’s take is. We’ve got to get back to critical thinking, because it’s how political battles are actually fought and won.
Put another way: whatever you think of the job that Merrick Garland is doing, he’s at least doing a job. Your job is to get out there and win the midterms for the Democrats. If you’re not doing that, then you’re not doing your job at all. Garland and the DOJ are taking down Trump. You may not like the approach or timeframe, but it is happening. You can see the tangible progress. Trump will go down. Now, what effort are you making to do your job of helping Democratic candidates win competitive midterm races, so Trump’s pals don’t seize control of the House and Senate in four weeks?
