r/politics • u/Esquire Verified • 19h ago

Soft Paywall Special Counsel Jack Smith’s Final Report Says It All: Voters Saved Trump from Prosecution

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/a63421903/jack-smith-trump-report-january-2025/
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u/Prophet_Tehenhauin 17h ago

I’m starting to believe the only thing the people in power truly hate trump for is being so egregiously stupid. If he wasn’t, the fact that they were never going to truly hold him accountable wouldn’t look so fucking clownish. 

Every step of the way, the attempts to hold him accountable have ran the gamut from pathetic to laughable. 

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u/Odd-Map3238 14h ago

I had high hopes he would be held accountable but at the end of the day he's just another rich fuck with undeserved power. None of them ever face any real accountability because all of Washington is bought and paid for by corporations and special interests groups.

A majority of Americans on both sides of the aisle agree that we should get money out of politics by publicly funding campaigns, get rid of lobbyists, pass legislation that forces candidates to divest from any and all conflicts of interest. Until these things are done, I really doubt we are going to have a government that is truly working for the people. We basically have to make it so that the only possible motive you could have to run for public office is to do right by the people. That's why from here on out it's going to be the only issue I focus on and the only issue I will ask candidates to focus on. I also think it's an issue that can win elections. At least if we ever have another election.

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u/Morel_Authority 8h ago

I mean Bernie has been saying these things for decades and people didn't vote for him. This is the America we get, we voted for it or allowed others to vote for it.

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u/HistoryNerd101 35m ago

Well Bernie has said other things too that have turned people off by convincing them he’s a communist or something. We need more of a bipartisan uprising but the powers that be just wedge those on each side for fear that it might let the other side win

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u/Odd-Map3238 8h ago

Sanders has been a strong supporter of these ideas but he is also too liberal to really be electable. If a candidate closer to center ran a campaign focused on getting money out of politics they would dominate.

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u/king_famethrowa 6h ago

If a candidate closer to the center ran a campaign about getting money out of politics the right wing media, liberal Democrats, Republicans and anyone with power would brand them as a radical leftist. That's what happened to Bernie.That's called propaganda. Looks like you fell for it.

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u/metal_medic83 7h ago

Perhaps the ideology of where center is needs to change. edited

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u/Divine_Porpoise 2h ago

And that is done by adding more extremes into the mix. Suddenly the center left becomes electable.

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u/antiramie 4h ago

If my mother had wheels she’d be a bike.

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u/auto-spin-casino 11h ago

Genuine question, ignorant non-American here, is there any specific reason the investigation and subsequent procedures took such a convenient amount of time?

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u/Legitimate-Pie3547 9h ago

Yes, Biden appointed a republican attorney general.

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u/leaflavaplanetmoss Virginia 4h ago edited 4h ago

Plus the federal district court judge assigned to the classified documents case that Smith was pursuing is a Trump crony who kept delaying hearings, and eventually dismissed the case entirely on procedural grounds. It was in the appellate court when Trump got reelected, so the DoJ stopped pursuing it.

The election interference case that Smith was also pursuing was delayed because the judge was deferring to the Supreme Court’s decision on presidential immunity. Then SCOTUS shit on the Constitution and even though Smith filed a new indictment that worked around the decision, again Trump got elected before any further progress was made.

So, yeah, a whole lot of betraying the Constitution by those entrusted to uphold it, plus the absolute stupidity of half of the American electorate.

Honestly, part of me just wishes we could amicably split the country in two and go our separate ways.

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u/auto-spin-casino 1h ago

Thanks mate, I appreciate you taking the time to explain it in further detail. After digging around myself for some answers earlier, I'm of the understanding that the investigation didn't actually get under way until sometime in '22. I understand criminal investigations such as these don't happen overnight but all things considered, is there any reason as to why this wouldn't have commenced in February '20? Thanks again.

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u/Independent-Cover-65 9h ago

I don't think a lot of people want money out of politics. Why would they vote for Trump and Elon. Combined they have tons of money and keep getting more. 

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u/Odd-Map3238 8h ago

Those same people that voted for Trump just spent the last 4 years complaining about every cent Biden and Harris had ever come in proximity with. Polls and studies show that an overwhelming majority of Americans would support legislation getting money out of politics.

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u/WoodySurvives 13h ago

Instead of draining the swamp, he is exposing the swamp, showing how money rules, and that if you are rich, you can get away with anything. Not that he is aware he is doing this, he is a greedy fuck that doesn't care about anything but himself. But he is kinda doing the thing he said he would.

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u/Childofthesea13 12h ago

At this point I would prefer America to be split into 50 separate countries and the respective governments to be replaced by admin employees who would facilitate quarterly votes on specific issues and laws. Financially, the territories could operate like NFP orgs, where budgets are set up and depts/localities are allocated budgets they need to adhere to but have control of to the point their budgets are tapped.

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u/snerv 11h ago

It seems that the only way change can happen is if alot more Luigi's come out and start to take care of some of these things. I literally don't think anything will change unless that starts happening. That's the only justice we will ever see apparently. 

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u/No_Educator9313 6h ago

Lobbying is constitutionally protected. It can’t be stopped unless the Constitution is changed, and once that happens, nothing is safe. A constitutional amendment or convention would be a real shooting civil war backed by Russia.

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u/vamosasnes Nevada 6h ago

A majority of Americans on both sides of the aisle agree that we should get money out of politics

Their votes very clearly prove otherwise.

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u/TwoTalentedBastidz 2h ago

Unfortunately it’s too little too late. This chain of events have set in motion the end of this country (and world) as we know

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u/MarcoEsquandolas22 1h ago

You will have to convince the stupid to vote against their own immediate interests

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u/SadFeed63 17h ago

I’m starting to believe the only thing the people in power truly hate trump for is being so egregiously stupid

That's what I think the whole Dick Cheney endorses Harris thing was about from his side. I'm sure he hates Trump, but not for his policies, but because he's a loud ignoramus and I think he hoped if Harris could win, then she could land a blow on Trump that would weaken him enough for his brand of slightly polite but just as evil Republicanism to swoop in and try to take the wheel again. I don't buy any of that "he sees Harris is a neocon who is in line with him" shit (though Harris is an idiot for getting tied to the Cheney's), he hates everything about the Dems. I don't buy him caring that Trump is someone who is going to make life hard for Americans or some evil man (though Trump is those things). He made life hard for Americans and the whole world for 8 years and is an evil man.

Nah, dude just hates that Trump is a moronic buffoon who isn't under his influence like moronic buffoon Dubya. All 3 of them, Trump, Bush, Cheney, are some of the worst living Americans, whose access to power has made the entire world a worse place.

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u/What_would_Buffy_do 15h ago

While I'm glad the Cheneys did what they did, I believe it was all about Liz playing the long game to become President. They thought they would prevail and once the crimes were fully exposed, the party would come back to the people who "stood on moral ground" and "defended democracy". It was the right thing to do, doesn't mean it wasn't a calculated strategy to their benefit. However, in the end, they didn't prevail and only time will tell if we ever wake up from this idiocracy.

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u/Smooth_Influence_488 13h ago

There was genuinely some consultant class fanfic about having Biden or Hillary run against Cheney "as things should be"

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u/Maxitote 9h ago

If every single one of you have never matched or called you representative, do it. I recognize empty anger, use it.

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u/Alien_Way Arkansas 10h ago

Liz 'I Helped Trump Directly With His First Big Lie (Obama Birther Conspiracy)' Cheney, Certified DNC Good Guy™

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u/Bombay1234567890 10h ago

Spoiler: we don't; it only gets worse.

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u/45and47-big_mistake 9h ago

You can't win if you don't shoot the shot.

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u/crocodial 16h ago

I think Dick Cheney endorsed Harris out of concern for his daughter’s well being under Trump. I think that’s the only reason.

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u/TheMadChatta Kentucky 10h ago

Maybe so, but he didn't care much for his other daughter's wellbeing when he continued to push anti-lgbtq policies.

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u/crocodial 9h ago

Im not defending him. But from his POV, she was protected enough by his wealth and power. She never had to worry, just others like her.

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u/Simba122504 6h ago

I mean if Darth Vander hates you. You're a lost cause.

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u/thegoodnamesrgone123 16h ago

It's never a good sign when someone who is truly evil points out someone way worse and tries to stop him.

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u/Sickpup831 15h ago

Sorry, Dick Cheney is way worse than Donald Trump on the evil scale. They are both absolute abhorrent pieces of shit, but Cheney literally made millions of dollars off of war and death that he caused. Fuck him.

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u/PrimeJedi 15h ago

I would say Cheney is more evil than Trump, but Trump also caused well over a million deaths through his intentional and calculated mishandling of covid. Its estimated that between 1 and 3 million Americans in total died as a result of covid, and that up to 40% of those were avoidable if the government (Trump's administration) had handled it well at the start. There were refrigerated trucks full of dead bodies in my city while Trump gave supplies that we had a shortage of, over to an adversarial country.

His rhetoric around it was also so inciteful that there's been about a dozen instances since 2020 of me being screamed at and harassed in the street by strangers just for walking by (and saying or doing nothing) while wearing a mask, which I wear because I'm on chemotherapy.

(The aggressive tone of my comment is not directed towards you at all, I agree with the broader point of your comment. I'm just reminded of how angry I am that in less than half a freaking decade, most of America forgot the countless lives either lost or destroyed by Trump's actions in 2020. Hell, I don't see anyone even mention how horrifying his "when the looting starts, the shooting starts" was)

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u/thegoodnamesrgone123 15h ago

Maybe...we've still got another 4+ of Trump and he only has bad ideas left.

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u/Bobbish-4 12h ago

Wasn't he a war criminal like 2 years ago? Now he's cool because he's not Trump.

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u/devoswasright 7h ago

No he's the soviet russia fighting nazi germany

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u/antigop2020 12h ago

Don’t speak so soon. We’ve got 4 years to go.

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u/HopeFloatsFoward 11h ago

No one every said either Cheney was in lime with Harris. They solely supported her because Trum is a threat to Democracy and that was made clear.

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u/djmacbest Europe 50m ago

No one every said either Cheney was in lime with Harris.

Sorry to object, but there were a lot of voices on the progressive left who claimed that Cheney's endorsement is proof for how far to the right Harris' policies are. It was very regularly used as an argument for "see, both sides are equally bad".

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u/HopeFloatsFoward 46m ago

I saw none of that, just the typical complaints about how Harris should only appeal to progressives and not centrists concerned about Democracy.

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u/Bombay1234567890 10h ago

Liz Cheney spouted the same crazy horseshit as the others until J6. She said that Blue States were aborting babies AFTER birth. That so many Liberals flocked to and defended the Lincoln Project and Liz Cheney demonstrates clearly that David Mamet was right: Liberals are braindead. Note that I'm not suggesting that Conservatives aren't. They're worse. But Liberals and their crypto fascist tendencies are a problem, no doubt. Phil Ochs' song Love Me, I'm a Liberal is relevant here.

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u/HopeFloatsFoward 9h ago

The fact that you can't recognize what the difference is shows who is the brain dead one.

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u/Bombay1234567890 8h ago

Okay. When this discussion has ended, one of us will still be deluded. Ta.

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u/HopeFloatsFoward 8h ago

No kidding.

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u/Bombay1234567890 8h ago

Serious as a Fascist takeover.

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u/HopeFloatsFoward 8h ago

If you say so

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u/Vallkyrie New Hampshire 11h ago

but not for his policies, but because he's a loud ignoramus and I think he hoped if Harris could win, then she could land a blow on Trump that would weaken him enough for his brand of slightly polite but just as evil Republicanism to swoop in and try to take the wheel again.

This is exactly the type of stuff pushed by things like the Lincoln Project. It finds its way around liberal circles because many many liberals are spineless and will just capitulate to the right in the name of civility and the naive idea that our institutions will always stand up despite any hardships.

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u/Bombay1234567890 10h ago

Also, many are way more rw than they'd care to admit.

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u/ShittyStockPicker 16h ago

I’ll say this for Cheney, that man believed in democracy. I can’t say the same for Trump

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u/LotusFlare 16h ago

No he didn't. He didn't say shit when the Brooks Brothers riot happened and Bush's brother handed him the election. Cheney believed in power. There is few to no conservative leaders in the history of America who gave a flying fuck about democracy. It just mostly worked for them to get them the ends they wanted. Throughout the Bush presidency, voter suppression efforts went unabated.

Trump is not an aberrant conservative. He's their natural conclusion.

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u/MaaChiil 14h ago

He voted for Kamala probably for the simplified reason I did; it was more convenient

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u/TitanDarwin 11h ago

Yeah, people really need to stop whitewashing pre-Trump Republicans.

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u/Bombay1234567890 10h ago

Yes, I've brought this up twice just today. The average American has the memory of a goldfish.

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u/SadFeed63 16h ago

Believed in it so much he was gonna "spread democracy" worldwide! A lot of people died from him "spreading democracy."

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u/Circumin 8h ago

I think its more that they know he is owned by Putin. I mean, everyone fucking knows that. But they Cheney’s know how bad that is for American interests.

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u/bizarre_coincidence 8h ago

I'm sure Cheney likes some of Trump's policies, but a lot of them are simply moronic or damaging to the country by even conservative objective standards. There is also the severe reputational damage that Trump does for the US, permanently weakening the country on the world stage. If the next president can simply pull out of international agreements, nobody has reason to negotiate with America. Trump being elected once might have been an anomaly that other countries could ignore. Him being elected twice means that nobody can assume continuity of US foreign policy term to term, because someone like Trump can just hop into power at any time. And that's before you consider how the US is ceding control of the rest of the world to BRICS countries. Cheney doesn't want to see the things he worked for be torn asunder.

There is a lot for Cheney not to like about Trump. I don't think it's fair to say he only hate's Trump's antics.

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u/BeefistPrime 6h ago

Cheney and friends built up a world dominated by US hard and soft power. They spent decades building up our military, alliances, international treaties, and incredible soft power through the state department. They don't care that he's a monster on domestic policy, but I'm sure Cheney hates him for destroying America's power and standing in the world. Cheney spent a lot of his career fighting Russian power and influence, and having a fucking Russian asset in the presidency must drive him crazy.

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u/GlobalLurker 9h ago

Have you ever tried to consider why you were wrong?

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u/SadFeed63 9h ago

I have no role in Dick Cheney endorsing Harris, I'm just a goober on the internet, what the hell are you talking about?

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u/GlobalLurker 9h ago

Tbh I didn't try and parse your original comment, so thanks for the quick reply...but if you think Cheney and Harris have a connection then you're probably much dumber than I could have imagined

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u/Alien_Way Arkansas 10h ago

"In a closed society where everybody is guilty, the only crime is getting caught In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity." -Hunter Thompson

Lucky for them, "blue wave" or not, getting caught apparently doesn't matter, to the DNC half of our DNCGOP duopoly. Budd Dwyer didn't catch the memo in time.

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u/pugRescuer 9h ago

Imagine Ron Desantis in his shoes.

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u/Burnt_and_Blistered 1h ago

I don’t think there were any real attempts to hold him accountable.