There are no words for what happened at the U.S. Capitol besides saying that practically the entire Republican Party has blood on their hands for giving Donald Trump the oxygen. Most rational people have run out of condemning adjectives, and political pundits are just plain tired. However, Joe Biden's insistence on moving forward and not looking backward needs to change after the horrifying events of Tuesday. People need to be prosecuted for their crimes of the last four years. Even if Trump tries to pardon himself, the Justice Department needs to give a close look at his multitude of crimes in the past four years.

The First Step Is an Investigatory Commission of the Capitol Coup

While Joe Biden's focus on the future and moving ahead is commendable, it is not what the American public needs right now. When countries have a searing national event from which they need to recover, they establish commissions. There was one after 9/11 which asked the hard questions of everyone. This is exactly what the United States needs after the ugly spectacle in our Congress. This is just the first step, so the American people can understand exactly what went wrong. The image of grinning and rabid fascists parading through the Capitol without resistance from the Capital Police may be one of the most searing images in this country since the World Trade Center collapsed. This singularly stands out during a time when seemingly every picture in the media is a jarring one. Heads need to roll, indictments needs to be filed, and people need to be fired.

The first person who needs to be scrutinized and investigated is one Donald J. Trump. While reporters have done an admirable job of exposing the truth, we may just be scratching the surface of what happened during this period of shame. The American public needs to know exactly what transpired to keep any of this from happening again. While some of the firewalls of democracy held, other guardrails were obliterated. Congress needs to know the full extent of the Trump Administration's criminality in order to change the laws. Otherwise, the next time a Republican fascist manages to get elected with the help of an unrepresentative system, we will find ourselves in the same position.

Incoming Attorney General Merrick Garland needs to make the appointment of a special prosecutor one of his first orders of business. Even if no indictments are filed related to Trump's conduct in office, the American people need to know that the system worked and that Trump was not able to cheat justice once again. Prosecutors need to at least use their professional discretion to make that decision. Perhaps the appointment of Garland is a sign that Trump is looking for an Attorney General of unquestioned impartiality exactly because he realizes that indicting Trump may be a possibility.

Prosecutors Need to Do Their Work Exhaustively

Of course, none of this takes away from what individual state prosecutors are beginning. Trump could potentially face indictment in two state and the District of Columbia for his possible crimes. People who claim that the past is in the past need to understand that Americans must regain their faith in the criminal justice system. If anything, Trump has proved that there are different rules for his cronies, and nobody ends up accountable. It is for this reason that the investigation into Trump needs to be robust and stop at nothing.

Thankfully, while Biden would probably prefer not to have to deal with the headache of multiple trials of Trump, he has the unimpeachable character to get out of the way and focus on unifying the country. After the horror of another day that will live in infamy, he certainly has his work cut out for him. To those who are worried about setting the precedent of ex-president's being investigated, they need to maintain their last vestiges of faith in the American justice system. While Bill Barr made a complete mess of the Department of Justice, no politically motivated investigation ended up going anywhere. Even the vaunted "Durham Report" ended up being a hot rancid cup of nothing. Nonetheless, with the catastrophic damage done to the concept of law and order by Trump, investigators and prosecutors need to be expansive right now in learning the truth. The strong hope is that the American President did not shred the United States Code.