Trump Indicted for Jan. 6; Republicans Stand By Their Man
“The attack on our nation’s capital on January 6, 2021, was an unprecedented assault on the seat of American democracy.
“The men and women of law enforcement who defended the U.S. Capitol on January 6 are heroes. They’re patriots, and they are the very best of us. They did not just defend a building or the people sheltering in it. They put their lives on the line to defend who we are as a country and as a people. They defended the very institutions and principles that define the United States.” -Special Counsel Jack Smith (August 1, 2023)
Donald Trump is finally being held accountable for the January 6, 2021, insurrection on the U.S. Capitol that resulted in deaths and vandalism of the capitol building by Trump supporters – MAGA Republicans. From Susan Glasser at The New Yorker:
Donald J. Trump was indicted on four counts of the most serious offense that a former President of the United States could be charged with—an offense against democracy itself. An attempted coup. An effort to overturn the will of the voters and remain in power such as we’ve never seen before and hopefully never will again.
Or, in the words of former Republican political consultant Steve Schmidt at The Warning:
“The words that begin the latest federal criminal indictment against Donald Trump are staggering, historic and tragic. They mark the greatest act of treachery against the American people in American history.”
That earth rumble you heard Tuesday evening was Special Prosecutor Jack Smith dropping the indictment against Trump consisting of the following four counts:
-Conspiracy to defraud the United States
-Conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding
-Obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding
-Conspiracy against rights
Here is the 45-page indictment: US v. Trump. More than one person has noted the irony that #45 has a 45-page indictment.
Those who read my work know I have been supportive of justice for January 6 since the day it happened when I watched it unfold in real time on TV (I had tuned in to watch certification of the 2020 vote). I watched every hearing of the January 6 Select Committee to Investigate the Attack on the United States Capitol.
The Danger of Ignoring the 1/6 Attack was that it could happen again if not prosecuted and, indeed, in the years since there have been plenty of threats. By applying the rule of law, it may help deter others including presidents from arbitrarily declaring their losses unfair with the determination to unlawfully remain in office.
Which begs the question: how long will Republicans stand by their man? Even the staunchest of Nixon supporters eventually peeled off from him as the evidence mounted but that didn’t begin to compare to the seriousness or danger of the Trump indictments.
I’ve been reading as much as possible on this third indictment and can’t help but think that the January 6 Committee’s thoroughly research and presented work had a hand in helping investigators in this effort. Remember – many of those who testified for that and, presumably, for the Special Counsel, were Trump supporters who worked in the White House and stood by him until he decided to lead a coup. Their loyalty to the Constitution and the peaceful transition of power in this country was, in the end, stronger than their loyalty to one man.
But in the age of Trump some Republicans left the party as Trump and his sycophants took over and lowered decency standards, inviting fringe elements who had always hung back in the shadows – former John Birchers and Joe McCarthy wannabes and white supremacists (that many Republicans thought were out of the party). But it was even worse than that.
The march on Charlottesville showed that anti-Semites and Nazi sympathizers, ugly reminders of the past that should have had no place in the GOP, were Trump supporters because he welcomed them even as they pushed out longtime, hard-working Republicans who had been around for years.
Peter Wehner – former Republican who left the party in the age of Trump, author, and speechwriter for Reagan, Bush #41, and Bush #43 – also asked how long Republicans were willing to hang in there, writing in The Atlantic:
“There was a time when even a fraction of Donald Trump’s record of lawlessness and depravity would have shattered a person’s political career, rendered his party ashamed of its association with him, and left him humiliated and seeking forgiveness. But that day is long gone, at least if you’re a Republican. … To his supporters, Trump is entertaining and cathartic, a ‘fighter,’ a middle finger to an establishment they revile.”
Many political careers in the past were snuffed out by the mere suggestion of scandal with Republicans being the loudest critics for both Republicans and Democrats. Good character counted. Respect counted. Honesty counted. Fairness and decency counted. Mindful spending, strong defense, working with our allies for a safer world.
But none of those things have mattered since Trump came on the scene. Indeed, Alabama Republican Senator Tommy Tuberville (yes, the one holding up military promotions for months because he wants his way with a bill) declared after E. Jean Carroll’s court victory finding Trump liable of sexual abuse that the verdict “makes me want to vote for him twice.” (From a woman’s point of view, that is such a creepy comment.)
Taking a look at die-hard Trump supporters, David French – former Republican conservative who switched to Independent in the age of Trump, political commentator, author, and former attorney who has argued high-profile religious liberty cases – wrote in the New York Times:
I am not naïve. I know that not even a guilty verdict will change the perceptions of many of Trump’s most loyal supporters. As my Times colleague Nate Cohn wrote on Monday, “The MAGA base doesn’t support Mr. Trump in spite of his flaws. It supports him because it doesn’t seem to believe he has flaws.” The perceptions of these supporters may never change. They may remain loyal to Trump as long as they live.
Indeed. Tom Nichols – a Never Trump conservative, author and retired professor at the U.S. Naval War College who specializes in international affairs, Russia, nuclear weapons, and national security – points out how some MAGAs were against Trump before they discovered the heroin known as power and lined up with Trump (The Atlantic):
Long before now, however, Americans should have reached the conclusion, with or without a trial, that Trump is a menace to the United States and poisonous to our society. (Senator J. D. Vance of Ohio once referred to Trump as “cultural heroin,” but that was before he decided to seek power in the Republican Party.) The GOP base, controlled by Trump’s cult of personality, will likely never admit its mistake: As my colleague Peter Wehner writes, Trump’s record of “lawlessness and depravity” means nothing to Republicans. But other Republicans now, more than ever, face a moment of truth. They must decide if they are partisans or patriots. They can no longer claim to be both.
The rest of us, as a nation but also as individuals, can no longer indulge the pretense that Trump is just another Republican candidate, that supporting Donald Trump is just another political choice, and that agreeing with Trump’s attacks on our democracy is just a difference of opinion. (Those of us who share our views in the media have a particular duty to cease discussing Trump as if he were a normal candidate—or even a normal person—especially after today’s indictment.)
But Nichols nails it when he discusses how to co-exist with Trump supporters who are family, friends, colleagues, and suggests we can no longer just listen and not rebut their support of such a corrupt man:
This is why we can no longer merely roll our eyes when an annoying uncle rhapsodizes about stolen elections. We should not gently ask our parents if perhaps we might change the channel from Fox during dinner. We are not obligated to gingerly change the subject when an old friend goes on about “Demonrats” or the dire national-security implications around Hunter Biden’s genitalia. Enough of all this; we can love our friends and our family and our neighbors without accepting their terms of debate. To support Trump is to support sedition and violence, and we must be willing to speak this truth not only to power but to our fellow citizens.
I think I kind of dipped a toe into that pool of Nichols’ advice last week with a Trump supporting friend when I rebutted to some pro-Trump/anti-Biden thing he said, then quickly back-stepped by apologizing, noting that I generally don’t badmouth the man to his supporters. I guess after eight years I’ve reached the saturation point of listening and generally not responding to my Trump-supporting Republican friends and colleagues. Even my posts citing Trump’s negative points have been few and far between here at Bearing Drift; I mean, how many times can you beat a dead horse?
Over at National Review, Andrew McCarthy – a Republican, lawyer, author, and former assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York – is concerned about Republicans’ chances with a Trump candidate in 2024 and how it looks to the rest of the country, writing:
The broad mass of the country, however, finds the episode abhorrent. These ordinary Americans are not progressive Democrats — they are not obsessed by January 6. But when reminded of it, they are repulsed by it, and they will be reminded of it nonstop from September through Election Day 2024. It will go into the mix with what, by then, could very well be some felony convictions, embarrassing business-fraud evidence in a civil trial, and a second finding of civil liability in the E. Jean Carroll litigation….
Trump’s arraignment will take place this afternoon at 4:00pm, with Trump in attendance.
Other reads about the latest Trump indictment:
-Lawfare: The Big One: Trump is indicted for Jan. 6 by Benjamin Wittes, Scott R. Anderson, Quinta Jurecic, Gia Kokotakis, Katherine Pompilio, Natalie K. Orpett
-New York Times: The Trial America Needs by David French
-National Review: Trump Can’t Win by Andrew C. McCarthy
-The Atlantic: This is the Case by Tom Nichols
-MSNBC: Full text of Trump indictment in Jack Smith’s 2020 election probe
-The New Yorker: Trump’s Offense Against Democracy Itself by Susan B. Glasser
-The Atlantic: The Indictment of Donald Trump – and His Enablers by Peter Wehner
-The Bulwark: Finally. The Coup Indictment by Charlie Sykes
-The Bulwark: Republicans F*cked Around. Now We All Have To Find Out by Jonathan V. Last
