The Devastating Case Against Donald Trump — And Why It Matters

Five Reasons Why Donald Trump’s Indictment Matters to America, History, the World, and Our Troubled Democracies

Image Credit: New York Post

It’s the Big One. The one that we’ve all been waiting for. Trump’s indictment — for attempting to overthrow the 2020 election. Jack Smith — the former war crimes prosecutor — finally brought charges, and they’re devastating. There are four counts: conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding, and conspiracy against rights. 

How bad is this indictment? Here’s a little detail to whet your appetite. 

The Deputy White House Counsel reiterated to Co-Conspirator 4 that there had not been…fraud in the election and that if the Defendant remained in office nonetheless, there would be “riots in every major city in the United States.” Co-Conspirator 4 responded, “Well, [Deputy White House Counsel], that’s why there’s an Insurrection Act.”

In other words, they planned to use the military across the country…to quell any resistance to…overthrowing an election. Bad enough for you?

It’s eminently worth reading the indictment in full. It reads better than any political thriller. If it was a script for a movie, it’d be a blockbuster. As things that actually allegedly happened? It’s surreal. Let me quote just a few choice bits, and then we’ll discuss why this indictment really is historic — not just for America, but for a world where democracy is in steep, sharp decline, fascism and authoritarianism on the rise, smirking, during an age of profound existential threats to civilization. Historic in that Big Sense.

a. The Defendant and co-conspirators used knowingly false claims of election fraud to get state legislators and election officials to subvert the legitimate election results and change electoral votes.

b. The Defendant and co-conspirators organized fraudulent slates of electors in seven targeted states…

c. The Defendant and co-conspirators attempted to use the power and authority of the Justice Department to conduct sham election crime investigations…

d. on the morning of January 6, the Defendant and co-conspirators repeated knowingly false claims of election fraud to gathered supporters, falsely told them that the Vice President had the authority to and might alter the election results, and directed them to the Capitol to obstruct the certification proceeding…

e. As violence ensued, the Defendant and co-conspirators exploited the disruption by redoubling efforts to levy false claims of election fraud and convince Members of Congress to further delay the certification based on those claims.

Whew. Emphasis mine. You can see how that adds up to charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, and the rest of the charges.

Think back for a moment, though. At the time, there were those of us who warned that all this was happening. That there wasn’t just a coup taking place, but a series of them. There was a blizzard of baseless lawsuits — a judicial coup attempt. When that failed, there were fake slates of electors — a legislative coup attempt. 

That was backed up by intimidation and threats aimed at election officials, coming purportedly from Trump’s then Department of Justice — legislative coup. And when all that failed, finally, came the hard coup attempt — a violent mob made of extremists and fanatics stormed Congress, and spilled blood in the sacred halls of democracy.