William Barr assumed the reins of the Department of Justice (DOJ) a year ago, succeeding Jeff Sessions as attorney general (A.G.) of the United States.  By universal consensus, the tenure of Sessions was an epochal shipwreck, disfigured as it was by Sessions, who infamously and needlessly recused himself from the entire Deep State Russia Hoax while simultaneously declining to root out Deep State operatives obsessed with removing Trump from office (to say nothing of maintaining and even extending legal protections afforded the likes of Hillary Clinton and Lois Lerner, among other Democrat-friendly government officials).  Like Pontius Pilate, Sessions washed his hands of the matter and allowed the coup-plotters of the ironically named Justice Department to proceed against Trump unopposed.

Among law-and-order conservatives and defenders of Trump, it was widely hoped that Barr would be an A.G. unintimidated by the Deep State, with the intestinal fortitude to push back against a DOJ corrupted by progressive lawyers and grandiose bureaucrats blinded by their irrational and atavistic hatred for Trump.  Perhaps Barr might even mete out long delayed justice to the chief plotters, among them the lawless James Comey, Andrew McCabe, Rod Rosenstein, John Brennan, and James Clapper, along with nihilistic progressive minions like Peter Strzok, Bruce Ohr, and Lisa Page.

After contentious confirmation hearings with ubiquitous and baseless left-wing smears, Barr was confirmed on Valentine's Day 2019.  In the year since Barr's confirmation, conservative stalwarts from Roger Simon to Sean Hannity have sung the praises of Barr and his deputy, John Durham, all but guaranteeing criminal indictments any day now against senior members of the Obama administration (which had spied on Trump's campaign and colluded with multiple foreign actors to subvert American democracy, both before and after the 2016 election).  Inspector General (I.G.) Michael Horowitz was designated as a third white knight by conservative true believers who maintained the I.G. would get to the bottom of everything.  A full trio of Elliott Nesses, seemingly the only incorruptible G-men remaining in American government, would bring the blatantly partisan DOJ to heel.

Yet, in the same way that CNN's mindless and enraged lemmings hyperventilated over bombshells against the Trump administration that never materialized, so too did conservative media figures hype imminent findings of criminality against senior DOJ figures, intoning that heads would soon roll, with (take your pick) Horowitz, Durham, or even Barr himself leading the righteous charge.

Skeptical conservative voters were admonished to be patient, and that the likes of Comey, Susan Rice, Loretta Lynch, and Brennan would soon be charged for their crimes and jailed.  Yet, amid the frantic waving of pom-poms, something perfectly predictable happened on the way to the Deep State's day of reckoning.  The days turned to into weeks, the weeks into months, and now a full year.

It has been said that justice delayed is justice denied.  It has now been more than three years since the broad outlines of the coup became public knowledge, as explicated in excruciating forensic detail by Mark Levin, Gregg Jarrett, Deroy Murdock, Mollie Hemingway, and John Solomon, among numerous others.  And still, to this day, no Deep State coup-plotter has been charged with a crime.  Fringe associates of Trump sit in prison (e.g., Manafort, Stone) or wallow in legal limbo (Flynn) for "crimes" of obvious government entrapment that pale into nothingness compared to the open and audacious felonies of Comey, Clapper, Brennan, and their ilk.  Indeed, the coup-plotters have cashed in and monetized their notoriety, with bestselling books, shameless GoFundMe Pages, lucrative cable news contracts, and an open-door forum to espouse their anti-Trump venom on all forms of media.

And what of the sainted Bill Barr?  Barr's DOJ has all but exonerated McCabe of any crimes -- indeed, on February 14, the DOJ indicated that it would not pursue charges against McCabe.  If Barr and the DOJ are unwilling to hold McCabe accountable, why would conservatives expect anything different with Comey, Brennan, or Clapper, or Obama, or any of the others who were so central to the coup that continues to this day?  It's business as usual at Barr's DOJ — Republicans continue to be targeted (e.g., Duncan Hunter), while Democrats (Hillary, Comey, McCabe, take your pick) skate free every time.

Perhaps even more disturbing, Barr's prosecution (and declination) decisions have been scarcely different from those of Eric Holder, Loretta Lynch, or even Jeff Sessions (namely, prosecute Republicans or their affiliates on any charge, no matter how spurious, and look the other way when Democrats engage in incidentals like illegal spying or entrapment).  Barr's recent decision to prosecute Lev Parnas, a shady Rudy Giuliani associate, with campaign finance violation charges is perfectly aligned with DOJ objectives (to prosecute Republican affiliates and protect Democrats).  Lev Parnas can now be squeezed and made to compose a story to wound President Trump.

It could very well be that Parnas is guilty, but it's curious how the DOJ invariably (indeed, always) tunnel on Trump associates (largely in the hopes of finding, or creating, Trump dirt).  Democrats who are equally guilty of campaign finance violations (or espionage, or falsifying records, or lying to a FISA court) seemingly have nothing to fear.

Could it be that Bill Barr, while an honorable man, simply has no stomach to prosecute long-time associates (and in some cases friends) in the DOJ, FBI, or CIA?  Or, even worse, perhaps Barr has been intimidated into submission as the enfeebled Jeff Sessions was?

Conservatives who yearn to witness the scurrying of Deep State cockroaches from the exertions of Barr, Durham, and Horowitz should instead prepare to be disappointed...again.  And with the coup relay torch passed from Comey, McCabe, Brennan, et al. to the Democrat-controlled Congress/#Resistance and their media allies, the original coup-plotters can sit back, laugh, cash in, and enjoy the show.

They clearly aren't worried about Bill Barr.  Perhaps the president should be.

Image: Office of Public Affairs via Flickr.