Paul Waldman makes my earlier point perfectly. Money quote:

The difference between the two parties on this question is just extraordinary. As I’ve said in other contexts, Republicans are the party of “Yes we can” while Democrats are the party of “Maybe we shouldn’t.” They’re forever afraid that someone will criticize them or that being too tough will backfire, something Republicans never worry about.

Which leads to this disheartening line in the NBC News story:

One of the reasons [Biden] has given aides is that he believes investigations would alienate the more than 73 million Americans who voted for Trump, the people familiar with the discussions said.

You have got to be kidding me.

Those 73 million Americans voted for the most corrupt president in American history, a con man and a liar and a bigot and a tax cheat and a sexual predator and someone who as we speak is poisoning our democracy on his way out the door. And Biden is worried that exposing his misdeeds will hurt their feelings?

We can’t simply act as though the four-year ordeal we all just lived through was nothing but a bad dream. We need to understand the full scope of the damage and how our system failed to stop it. In some cases, that will involve investigating Donald Trump and those who helped him, and if there’s a way to hold them accountable, that’s just what we should do. It’s not a distraction. It’s an obligation.

The reason the GOP is the party of “Yes we can,” is because no one has ever told them “No you can’t,” and the result has been increasing GOP cynicism, criminality, and now flat out embrace white nationalism and authoritarianism. Ford pardoned Nixon. HW pardoned (at Barr’s insistence) a slew of Iran-Contra criminals. Obama let the Bush crime family walk. And if Biden poo-poos Trump criminality, American democracy may have just gotten a four year reprieve, with Trump, or someone worse waiting in the wings in 2024 to pick up where Fat Donnie left off.

This shit must end NOW!

Trump will leave office soon. But we can’t let him escape accountability for his misdeeds.