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submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/politics@lemmy.world

Summary

Special Counsel Jack Smith's report concluded that Donald Trump avoided prosecution for January 6-related charges due to his reelection.

The DOJ determined that prosecuting a sitting president violated constitutional protections, despite evidence strong enough to secure a conviction.

Smith noted that Trump's return to office directly halted legal action and criticized existing DOJ policies and judicial interpretations, which shielded presidents from accountability.

The report underscores how voters, by reinstating Trump, indirectly prevented his criminal prosecution for actions threatening democratic institutions.

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[-] candyman337@sh.itjust.works 160 points 2 weeks ago

This is insane, it shouldn't matter, he did the crimes. I hate this country

[-] scops@reddthat.com 58 points 2 weeks ago

We don't elect presidents anymore. We elect short(-ish) term kings

[-] grue@lemmy.world 26 points 2 weeks ago

short(-ish) term

That's optimistic.

[-] cabron_offsets@lemmy.world 13 points 2 weeks ago

Fat fuck will be dead inside of 4 years.

[-] Xanthobilly@lemmy.world 10 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

~~That’s missing the point.~~ He’s an authoritarian and will destroy everything with what time he has left.

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[-] Zachariah@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

🌏👨‍🚀🔫👨‍🚀

[-] rishado@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago

If it makes you feel any better, they would've found some other reason if he lost the election.

[-] IMongoose@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

I actually believe that this is how it should be. If it was a tyrannical government (but it's not) citizens could vote in a president that was falsely accused or imprisoned (he is 100% guilty of that and much more).

I do want to clarify that I also believe Trump and the GOP will either destroy or renew (through third party actions) the USA as we know it and if they didn't constantly break the law this could be a good precedent.

But the people voted and he got both popular and electoral votes. The people want the grifter. If it turns out low elo meddled with the results, well, see that third party actions comment.

[-] Furbag@lemmy.world 15 points 2 weeks ago

I understand the desire of people who don't want to see accusations like this be used as a political weapon, but the pendulum is swinging too far in the opposite direction here. Trump is using his status as a political candidate and now president-elect to sidestep the judicial process entirely.

It's one thing to say you can be president even from a prison cell if the electorate so wills it. It's another to say that because he was voted to be president, we can't even put him up for a trial to determine guilt or innocence by a jury of his peers.

And now we'll probably never know the answer to that.

[-] IMongoose@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

It's a completely fucked up situation to be sure. He was already found guilty of 34/34 felonies he was charged with. MAGA reaction? Put a bumper sticker on their car that says "I'm voting for the felon" right next to their thin blue line sticker. These insurrection charges should have been brought up years ago, but I'm not sure it would have changed anyone's opinion. Like you said, we'll never know.

[-] dx1@lemmy.world 92 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

The fact that they didn't secure a conviction for four years tells you all you need to know. Complete sham. Guilty as sin, but they wouldn't put him in jail.

[-] Podunk@lemmy.world 32 points 2 weeks ago

To be fair, that was not jack smith's fault. He did his job exactly as well as he was allowed. Blame the system, but in this instance, do not blame the man.

[-] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 6 points 2 weeks ago

Bullshit. The Dems wanted to run against Trump while he was being prosecuted and slow rolled the investigations because they thought they'd win.

[-] Podunk@lemmy.world 17 points 2 weeks ago

And thats not smiths fault. He did his job. The failure is above that. Pay attention to the bigger picture.

[-] Corkyskog@sh.itjust.works 10 points 2 weeks ago

What about Garland, can we blame him?

[-] Podunk@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago
[-] dx1@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

Why not? He folded up everything as soon as the election was over. What the hell kind of integrity is that?

[-] Podunk@lemmy.world 21 points 2 weeks ago

He had a job. He did the job. His run down of how things go does not exist in a vacvuum. Where do his responsibilities start and where do they stop?

He did his job right. The follow-up is on someone else. And they failed. On epic levels. But dont blame him. He already paid the piper. The man gets credit for what he did. His report being ignored is no fault of his own.

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[-] Soulg@sh.itjust.works 14 points 2 weeks ago

Because it was obvious that it would all be thrown out and he would be fired. Nothing would have changed if he kept going. Garland is at fault for waiting years to even appoint Smith.

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[-] Zerlyna@lemmy.world 49 points 2 weeks ago

I hate this timeline.

[-] DogPeePoo@lemm.ee 38 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

And by “voters” he means democratic city polling place bomb threats, Elon Musk & Starlink, and a 2 year Merrick Garland delay.

[-] SnotFlickerman 32 points 2 weeks ago

...and yet there won't be thousands of people protesting his inauguration or anything the fuck else.

The people in this country have been broken, and now they're just gonna lay over and take it.

We're a long way from February 15th, 2003.

Face it, American citizens, we're fucking cooked.

[-] pelespirit@sh.itjust.works 21 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Face it, American citizens, we’re fucking cooked.

Some of us are and some of us aren't. Help your neighbors if you're one of the lucky ones who aren't.

[-] SnotFlickerman 9 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I'll do my best but considering I have cancer and can't afford my meds without the ACA, I'm probably one of the ones who is pretty fucking cooked.

[-] MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world 6 points 2 weeks ago

I'm safe, I'll pick up your slack fam.

[-] SnotFlickerman 5 points 2 weeks ago

I knew billywitchdoctor.com would come through for me.

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[-] Zaktor@sopuli.xyz 5 points 2 weeks ago

Why'd you bypass the largest protest in the country's history? Black Lives Matter was just four years ago and included people actually fighting with cops, not just walking along prescribed routes holding signs. We're a lot closer to a break than we ever were in 2003.

[-] distantsounds@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

People weren’t fighting cops, it was just cops doing what they do best.

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[-] GiddyGap@lemm.ee 31 points 2 weeks ago

In the US, if you have money and power, you can get away with anything. Land of the free (If you're rich).

[-] octopus_ink@lemmy.ml 14 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Since finding this 17 year old song linked somewhere on the fediverse awhile back I continue to be amazed how it just gets right to the root of nearly every problem we have. Start to finish, if you are angry at the current state of things (and not a maga), pretty good chance this song nails it for you.

Welcome to the United Snakes

Land of the thief, home of the slave

The grand imperial guard where the dollar is sacred and power is God

(and it turned me into a bit of a Brother Ali fan)

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[-] militaryintelligence@lemmy.world 25 points 2 weeks ago

God stfu. Him getting elected means nothing. He was getting away with everything either way

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[-] neuracnu 25 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

I think there is some deeply cynical logic, or a horrifying game of chicken, being played by Democratic leaders here.

Let's say Jack Smith is given the go-ahead to investigate and prosecute Trump as fast as he possibly could (while building a bullet-proof case for conviction). With all the legal resources (not to mention Republican-friendly judges) available for Trump to leverage, it's safe to say that Smith certainly would not have been able to complete a full trial and secure a conviction before the 2024 election. But perhaps one could have been under-way.

A Trump trial for election interference in the middle of 2024 would have been a galvanizing force for his base, and likely cause his popularity among like-minded folks to surge and likely help his polling numbers. After all, conservatives love their persecution complexes and already live in a hazy fantasy world where their guy can do no wrong. So this doesn't help Democrats.

If Trump were to be acquitted, this would obviously be credibility kryptonite for Democrats, so that's a bad outcome. And if Trump were to be convicted, I believe there is genuine concern among top Democrats that all the armed crazies (including those in the police, government positions and military) might do a real insurrection this time as opposed to the world's shittiest flash mob.

So what's a cynical Democratic operator to do? Have Smith slow-walk the investigation and take his time to make it immaculate. Have the election without using litigation to get in Trump's way and hope that people don't make a shitty choice. If they do, they'll get what they paid for: another four years of ridiculous chaos. These would represent setbacks and lost ground for Democratic causes, but their patrons will figure out how to make it profitable in the meantime and be there to fund a comeback when the American people become exhausted by the bullshit. Let him burn himself out in the spotlight, further expose himself as a corrupt fool, letting his support curdle naturally rather than fighting him and his supporters at their strongest.

This scenario presumes several deeply horrifying and risky ideas:

  1. No one who matters will get hurt in the next four years. Are you rich? Are you a middle-class cis-het-white person? Do you not live in Palestine, Ukraine or Taiwan? You'll ride this out. The poor and the queers have nowhere else to turn, so they'll eat shit and be right back on the Democrat's side next time around (unless they have money, of course).

  2. Trump and his cronies will be too inept to dismantle American democracy before the next election.

I'm no card player, but this all seems like a terrible gamble to me.

[-] hitmyspot@aussie.zone 6 points 2 weeks ago

Or, do the right thing and prosecute him, even if it's bad for them politically.

Now it's terrible for them politically and terrible for the country and the world.

[-] 474D@lemmy.world 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

The first half here doesn't really track because Trump's numbers didn't really change. He had a similar amount of voters as usual, and the Democrats came up short. I don't think there could have been a substantial boost for him, his people are solid regardless of whatever he says or goes through.

The second half, yeah that makes sense, but now we see happens when Democrats "play by the rules" or try to play it safe... They lose. It's less about trump and more that they didn't capture voters. We needed Kamala to distance herself from Biden but she wanted to be "nice". People are struggling, no one feels the economy is great, they left progressives behind, and here we are now. Even if progressives are only 10-20% of the party, you NEED them to win

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[-] Shawdow194@fedia.io 15 points 2 weeks ago
[-] JaymesRS@literature.cafe 11 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Don’t forget the MAGA faction of SCOTUS who also chose to delay as much as possible

[-] cabron_offsets@lemmy.world 8 points 2 weeks ago

It’s the voters’ collective fault.

[-] masterofn001@lemmy.ca 12 points 2 weeks ago

Biden still has 4 days to official act this mother fucker.

[-] mp3@lemmy.ca 8 points 2 weeks ago

aka mob rules above actual justice.

[-] Rhoeri@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

Lemmy user Rhoeri@lemmy.world’s special report in response:

No shit.

[-] rayyy@lemmy.world 7 points 2 weeks ago

Wrong. His LIES, Russia, China, Iran, nutcases and the corrupt Republican party save him.

[-] nimble 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

For the report it links to WaPo which is behind a paywall (and shit). I get annoyed by articles that don't link the full thing that they are discussing.

If you want to read the full report then here is an article that links to it.

Alternatively: direct link to report

[-] SuperCub@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 weeks ago

Pretty sure that was you, Jack, by dragging your feet for as long as possible with that investigation.

[-] MegaUltraChicken@lemmy.world 22 points 2 weeks ago

Listen, we can give a ton of people shit on this. Jack Smith isn't one of them. The people Jack Smith works for are the ones who failed here.

[-] zenitsu@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Yeah, it's the fault of Jack Smith who was appointed only towards the end of 2022 lmao. Not the traitor republicans in the supreme court for slow walking the baffling immunity decision or a Trump appointed judge (Aileen Canon) being blatantly and shamelessly biased on the documents case, or finally the braindead voters who re-elected him.

[-] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 5 points 2 weeks ago

I'm glad to hear this guy skates because a whole lot of low-info voters made protest votes, sat out, or even voted for donvict because "both sides" or other stupid narratives.

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this post was submitted on 14 Jan 2025
462 points (100.0% liked)

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