This man nailed Trump — then elite conspirators helped him wriggle free

Tuesday was the five-year anniversary of the J6 insurrection. On Jan. 6, 2021, the then-president organized and led an attempted paramilitary takeover of the US government.

And Donald Trump got away with it.

He ran for president for a second time like a man who was trying to outrun a jail sentence. That’s because he was.

Special counsel Jack Smith, who investigated the events of that treasonous day, told lawmakers last month he could prove Trump’s guilt.

“Our investigation developed proof beyond a reasonable doubt that President Trump engaged in a criminal scheme to overturn the results of the 2020 election and to prevent the lawful transfer of power,” Smith said.

Trump stalled and obstructed and dragged his feet, abusing every judicial courtesy afforded to powerful men and every procedural loophole, all while campaigning as if his life depended on it. He turned himself into the “hero” in a grandiose narrative about the battle between good and evil (QAnon), and when justice came knocking, he made it seem like evidence of the conspiracy against him — and America.

Once safely back in power, Trump stopped all the criminal investigations. With damning proof in hand, Smith was forced to stand down. Trump claimed the authority of judge and jury. He saw no law that could stop him from doing what he wants, to whomever he wants, because his word is law.

But Trump couldn’t have gotten away with treason by himself. First, there were the Republicans who saved him from being held accountable by the same Congress that he attacked. Then there were the oligarchs who paid for a massive rightwing media complex that defended an unapologetic traitor and encouraged conspiratorial thinking among followers. Then there were the mainstream corporate leaders on Wall Street and beyond, who quickly understood that he really could get away with it, like all the other elites over the last 20 years who’d gotten away with their crimes.

Every single Trump ally already believed they were above the law, morality and tradition. That belief was validated by GOP justices on the Supreme Court, who manufactured legal immunity, and by Trump’s victory. Society is now at a point where one of the world’s biggest communications platforms, owned by one of the world’s richest men, can produce literal child pornography — and the elites of the world just shrug.

What began on Jan. 6, 2021, was continued the day Trump was sworn back into office. From there was a renewed push to unwind the political settlements of the previous century. The explicit goal was to loot the safety net; create a secret police force; suppress freedoms of speech, religion and movement; immiserate the property-owning middle classes; and reshape society so that rich white men like Trump could once again rule with impunity.

The never-ending insurrection applied to foreign affairs as well. Trump has sabotaged the lawful, international order that the US established after the atrocities of World War II. Bribery of the American president is now factored into the cost of global trade, a pattern of corruption that will no doubt deepen as heads of state realize that, in the wake of the kidnapping of Venezuela’s Nicolas Maduro, Donald Trump will take what he wants if it is not given to him.

The institutions of democracy — in this, I include the courts, the media and universities as well as the American people — now face a never-ending insurrection, because they failed to hold a traitor, and the corrupt elites before him, accountable for their crimes. And as long as we keep failing, we can keep expecting more of the same.

As Trump said after the attack on Venezuela, “We can do it again, too. Nobody can stop us."

All that said, the truth about the J6 insurrection isn't going away, no matter how contested it is currently. Do you see a time in the future when justice will prevail? Or do you think injustice baked into the cake of the American republic?

These are some of the questions I asked Adam Cohen, a lawyer and activist with a large online following who commented thoroughly on Jack Smith’s deposition. (It was released on New Year’s Eve by Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee for absolute minimum exposure to it.)

Adam chose to be optimistic.

“Some people scoff at the concepts of American ingenuity and exceptionalism, but I think we're going to need some realistic, feasible ideas to fix our country,” Adam told me.

“I think we can, but it's going to take time, perhaps generations. I mean, we've been trying to get this right for 250 years. We just have to keep pressing forward, calling out the inequalities inherent in our system and look for ways to fix them. We've done it before. We can do it again.”

JS: Today is the anniversary of the J6 insurrection. Trump is president again. Jack Smith said last month that there is proof beyond doubt that he's responsible for the attempted takeover of the US government. Did he get away with it?

AC: The January 6 select committee extensively showed the depths that Trump went through to illegally steal the 2020 election — the lies, the extortion of election officials, the attempts to find 11,780 nonexistent votes, the fake electors, and the insurrection itself, which included incitement, threats against his own vice president, refusal — for hours — to do anything to stop it, and telling his supporters who had just bludgeoned 140 police officers that he loved them.

He was never prosecuted, and now he's president.

Unfortunately, the answer to your question is self-evident.

Smith said the attack could not have happened without Trump. It looks like those who said he was campaigning to stay out of jail were right. Even Joe Biden said that. What does that say about the system? What can reformers do?

I believe Smith's testimony showed that Trump announced he was running shortly after it was announced there was going to be a criminal investigation into the classified documents scandal and, potentially, January 6.

During his candidacy, Trump repeatedly attacked the investigation as an attempt to silence him. He then argued for — and received — immunity from a Supreme Court featuring three of nine justices chosen by him. Even the most cynical of us were shocked by that opinion. The whole affair exposed significant cracks in the system. We need to look at serious SCOTUS reform, then go on from there.

What was the most damning thing in Smith's deposition? What was the key detail that made you think this is the reason the Republicans released it on New Year's Eve.

Even though we've seen so much coverage of January 6, time has a frustrating way of dulling memory, doesn't it? So it was profoundly infuriating to be reminded that almost all of Trump’s co-conspirators were Republican officials. And they were willing to testify against him. You have to think he didn't want the world, and especially MAGA, to see how thoroughly they were duped, used and summarily discarded.

This president claims the right to kidnap leaders of foreign countries in order to try them in US courts. He also claims total immunity from US courts. Forget about whether he's above the law. He is. The question is whether and for how long Americans will tolerate a depraved president.

Oh boy, you're asking the wrong person. I was out in 2015 when he came down the escalator and called Mexicans criminals — and the campaign rhetoric devolved from there.

Then, four years after January 6th, he gets reelected?

It really shakes your faith in our politics.

The truth about J6 isn't going away, no matter how contested it is. Do you see a future in which justice will be done to future evil men, if not this president, who is 79? Or is injustice baked into the cake of the American republic?

The optimist in me says we will reform our government to stop this from happening in the future. The pessimist sees the Supreme Court greatly expanding executive power, which will be difficult if not impossible to overcome.

Some people scoff at the concepts of American ingenuity and exceptionalism, but I think we're going to need some realistic, feasible ideas to fix our country.

I think we can, but it's going to take time, perhaps generations. I mean, we've been trying to get this right for 250 years. We just have to keep pressing forward, calling out the inequalities inherent in our system and look for ways to fix them. We've done it before. We can do it again.