The Mills of the Gods

I just sent out an update on Ukraine, anticipating that the next stage of the counteroffensive would be the big thing that happens while I try to take a week or so of summer vacation. But no, if that sort of thing could be predicted, it would be too easy. Instead, the big thing that happened as I was heading out the door is the release of the formal indictment of Donald Trump for fomenting the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol, and for conspiring to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

There is an old saying, which in various forms goes back to Plutarch, that “the wheels of justice turn slowly, but they grind exceedingly fine.” (In Plutarch, it was the “mills of the gods.”) The wheels have been catching up, slowly but surely, with the people involved in the insurrection.

As of July, prosecutors have charged nearly 1,100 people in connection with the attack. The Justice Department could ultimately bring indictments against as many as 1,000 more in the months to come….

The vast majority of those who have faced trial have been found guilty of at least one crime or another; only two people—a former government contractor from New Mexico and a low-level member of the Oath Keepers militia—have been acquitted of all the charges they faced.

Now the prosecution is coming for the top man in the conspiracy, Donald Trump.