A "Terse" Jack Smith
Trump's cases dismissed, but not forever
Alternate caption: “Are we sure we want to take the exit to Thanksgiving dinner?”
I have only one relative who thinks differently than I do politically. But I know many of you are heading into difficult conversations over turkey and stuffing.
Jack Smith had to bow today to the Justice Department, as he moved to dismiss both felony cases against Trump. He cited the Justice Department’s policy of not allowing prosecution of sitting presidents. One case was about mishandling of classified documents, and the other case was accusing Trump of overturning the 2020 Presidential election. Smith wrote to Judge Chatkin and said the policy “is categorical and does not turn on the gravity of the crimes charged, the strength of the government’s proof or the merits of the prosecution, which the government stands fully behind.” There is a chance of reviving the Federal case when Trump leaves office.
The NY Times characterized Smith’s letters as “terse.” I can imagine Jack Smith is extemely angry. I look forward to the day after Trump leaves office and the case is resumed.
Reading a piece in Axios this morning got me to thinking about Trump and the heavy testosterone culture that surrounds him. I always wondered why he chose to nominate someone like Matt Gaetz when he certainly knew he would not be approved. It’s about loyalty: Trump needed to know that Gaetz would sacrifice himself. A friend suggested that Gaetz now might run for Govenor of Florida after DeSantis’ term is up, and that this maneuver was a way to get Gaetz out of Congress to do that. Anyway, who knows. But Trump likes this kind of bad-boy image, men who exhibit the kind of ruthless behavior— the polar opposite to kindness and consideration, which he considers a sign of weakness. It helps explain his crude rallies— real men don’t worry about other people’s feelings. To Trump, this is what constitutes a strong man, and someone who will do his bidding, no matter what. Some of the women in his group of nominees fit this bill even though they are women. After Gaetz withdrew from the nomination, he immediately began making videos at $550.00 a pop for a site called Cameo.
Trump won re-election by less than 50% of the vote. He did not win in a landslide, does not have a large mandate, we have to keep saying that as loud as possible, and often, to counter his narrative. I still hold out hope that some Republicans in the Senate will not put through every nominee if they are unfit, or bow to his every plan. Musk has indicated he will fund primary races for opponents to Senators who cross Trump. So this is messy and worrisome, and we watch to see who has a backbone.
Stay engaged. I will try to bring you what I can, what I’ve learned. Thanks for being here!
There are many older republicans in Congress who should consider retiring at the end of their terms. They don’t have to worry about being threatened by Trump and shouldn’t fear Elon’s threat that he would fund a primary to defeat them in the next election. They can stand up to Trump and finally exhibit a spine for the good of the country.
Jack Smith is one of my heroes.
I read a headline for an editorial recommending that Biden pardon Trump. The only benefit I can see of a pardon by Biden is that is that it leaves a little permanent greasy stain in the history books by calling out that Biden expected Trump would be found guilty and actually needed the pardon. But the gesture would be lost on Trump and his supporters, and it has no practical utility. To the contrary, it would undermine the potential future relaunch of the carriage of justice if Jack Smith's prosecution were to be reignited in a few years.
I'm deliberately vague about the duration of Trump's tenure ("a few years" rather than "four years") because (1) Trump may spin out within his term, from myriad causes, not least of which is JD Vance invoking the 25th amendment, and (2) if Trump makes it through four years intact, he may not let go of the reins.
Trump picked Gaetz for many reasons. (1) He likes to test to see how much he can get away with. If Gaetz had made it through, all the other nominees would have been shoo-ins. (2) It's a bluff that scares/ bullies people into accepting other nominees because "at least this one is not as bad as Gaetz". (3) It created a lot of noise, and while people were focused on Gaetz, Trump slipped in other nominations that didn't get nearly as much public visibility. (4) He likes the way Gaetz IS. Gaetz behaves outrageously and thrives on bad press. He is a mini-Trump. Trump likes people who know how to project and how to attract attention. (5) And he's loyal, whatever that means. (If Trump's popularity collapses, there will be a feeding frenzy among his supporters to say how bad he REALLY was and that they were just in the game to serve as guardrails.)
The key is to mitigate some of Trump's tactics: (1) Don't let the threat of Gaetz cause us to be bullied into accepting other bad candidates. We have to write our senators and congressmen to let them know how upset we are. (Even one of my Trump-voting conservative friends didn't like Gaetz). We need to let our representatives--regardless of party or office held--know that we are paying attention and distressed. (2) Don't let the Gaetz nomination distract us from other bidg issues. (3) In any case, we need also to let our representatives know what we think of the clown car and what we think the right policies should be.
I keep wondering, where is the Democratic party in all of this now? I canvassed before the elections, and the Dems were constantly calling me to participate. Now, when we still have work to do (calls and letters to representatives, boosting attendance in meetings held by our representatives, organizing activities), the party is no where to be found. Was I really successful submitting "unsubscribe me from this list" to all senders?