Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a historian of fascism and autocracy, says that Special Counsel Jack Smith’s 3-minute speech moved her to tears.
She explains why in this post on her blog Lucid:
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The bare-bones conference room, with its ugly folding table and florescent lighting overhead. The standard-issue podium at which Jack Smith, Special Counsel at the Department of Justice, stood with his understated attire and not-made for television haircut. There was no glamour and no media buzz as Smith announced the unsealing of a historic indictment against former president Donald J. Trump for “violations of our national security laws as well as participating in conspiracy to obstruct justice.”
All of it moved me to tears.
Special Counsel Jack Smith press conference, June 8, 2023. C-Span.
As an American, I was outraged when I read the indictment. As a scholar of authoritarianism and one of the first people to label Trump as a threat to our freedoms, I was unsurprised at its content. Trump’s proprietary vision of governance was familiar to me, as was his supremely venal attitude. In the strongman world there are no boundaries between public and private. The leader believes it is his right to possess and exploit for personal benefit anything in the nation, from natural resources to economic assets to information—the latter being the most valuable currency.
“Forced out of the White House after his coup attempt failed, beset by financial worries and multiple investigations, how could Trump fail to cast his greedy eyes on the vast store of classified information available to him?” I wrotein Aug. 2022.
Democracy does not churn out telegenic images of demagogues commanding cheering crowds of fanatics. It does not produce dramatic images of coups, whether old-school takeovers with tanks on the streets or today’s radicalized civilian armies assaulting government buildings, as in the US and Brazil.
Democracy has its rituals and rites of passage, but the everyday work of democracy –a political system built on cultivating consensus, rather than lackeys implementing decisions by one man–can seem boring to those who crave theatrics. It entails endless discussions and careful deliberation in Congress and statehouses around the nation.
And so, Jack Smith appeared in his drab institutional surroundings to deliver a message of historic import. In just over three minutes, he informed the public of the status of the investigation he has overseen while also expressing support for some of the most foundational values of democracy and civil society.
Commitment to National Security
In healthy democracies both liberal and conservative politicians share a commitment to protecting their country’s national security. That’s no longer the case in America, where the GOP has left conservatism behind to become an autocratic entity. Republican lawmakers now align with far-right authoritarian parties and governments in Hungary, Russia, and Brazil that see democratic America as an enemy to be taken down.
Add in the GOP’s loyalty to a cult leader who will sell out anyone and anything for more power and profit, and we have a tragic situation: many Republican lawmakers are no longer committed to America’s national security. This shift is partly responsible for the Republican demonization of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), America’s support for NATO (and Ukraine), and the Department of Justice.
Moreover, as Rep. Jim Jordan’s sham House Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government has made clear, Trump loyalists do not want the FBI to clean house of extremists, including those apparently loyal to Putin. That is why Jordan defended Steve Friend, an FBI agent who had his security clearance revoked. Friend refused to investigate Jan. 6 insurrectionists, transferred FBI documents to an unauthorized flash drive, and contributed to Kremlin propaganda outlets Russia Today and Sputnik.
This is why Jack Smith started his speech by recognizing the importance of protecting our national security and those who enforce it:
“The men and women of the US intelligence community and the armed forces dedicate their lives to protecting our nation and its people. Our laws that protect national defense information are critical for the safety and security of the United States, and they must be enforced. Violations of those laws put our country at risk.”
Rule of Law
Since today’s autocrats often keep elections going, elections are no longer the main metric of democracy. Instead, we look to accountability and the existence of an independent judiciary to measure democratic health. Both are fundamental to the principle of rule of law, which Jack Smith emphasized in his speech, identifying it as
“a bedrock principle of the Department of Justice. And our nation’s commitment to the rule of law sets an example for the world. We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone. Applying those laws, collecting facts, that’s what determines the outcome of an investigation. Nothing more, and nothing less.”
We have one set of laws in this country, and they apply to everyone. This bears repeating because authoritarianism is about getting away with crime. When the judiciary has been neutralized, the press threatened into silence, and security services made into tools of the autocrat, then the leader becomes untouchable, no matter how many crimes he commits.
This indictment interrupts that trajectory. I know where that road leads, and how much we stand to lose. This is why Jack Smith’s speech moved me.
Diane Ravitch's blog 
I highly recommend to other readers of this blog Ruth;’s Ben-Ghiats superb book on authoritarian strongmen throughout history. It’s a great read.
Though “Strongmen” is perhaps too polite a term. “Thugs” is more like it. One of the characteristics of these malignant narcissists like Mussolini and Trump is profound insecurity.
Which makes the term “strongmen” very ironic and inapt when applied to such people.
It is precisely their lack of inner strength — their weakness —that makes them behave as they do.
I’d say “Strawmen” is a much more apt term. If more people recognized this, the Strawmen would not last anywhere near as long as they do.
Perfect, SomeDAM!!! What a way with words you have!!!
Sadly, I am afraid that we will not see the end of Trump’s reign. He will continue to run for office, get massive amounts of press and exposure from all of the media, and very possibly become President again. He nearly destroyed our country last time, this time will be worse. NO ONE is above the law! He must be kept out of the White House, once and forever! And if the media would not keep him in the spotlight, he could “waste” away…….Governing is about the people and the country, not about oneself.
I doubt he will “very possibly become President again.” In 2020, 80 million voters did not want DJT as Prez, and that was Before January 6.
The fewer articles re DJT that we click to read, the stronger the message to media that we value other news.
It’s hard not to read about DJT. He just made history as the first former president to be indicted on federal charges.
We can be selective how many and whose articles we click. During DJT’s term I stopped reading the articles along the lines of “Tomorrow Trump may do something off the wall.”
We’re going to have two days of speculation re Tuesday court appearance to fill 24/7 news.
Booklady,
The amount of reading is overwhelming, so I have devised a similar shortcut. Don’t read articles about what might happen. Read about what happened. Todays Washington Post has a fascinating article about the sources close to Trump who supplied info to investigation, including a lawyer who was compelled to testify by a judge because he was withholding info about the commission of a crime.
The other good story: how the four children in Colombia survived in the Amazon jungle for 40 days. Being indigenous, they were resourceful. Miraculous anyway.
Donald Trump’s precedencey is definitely unpresidented.
No doubt about it
👍
But there are many, many ways to interpret and enforce it.
“But there are many, many ways to interpret and enforce it.”
Yes, I am afraid of that. The law has to be applied equally as well. Too often how it is applied depends on one’s power and/or money.
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ruth-ben-ghiat-donald-trump-2024_n_6486fcc6e4b027d92f8dcfa1
A story about significant, organized political action- bar proceedings against Trump lawyers e.g. John Eastman
The 65 Project aims to “protect democracy from the abuse of the legal system by holding accountable lawyers who engage in fraudulent and malicious attempts to subvert American democracy.”
Predictably, the Federalist opposes the 65 Project (named after the number of lawsuits filed that challenged the 2020 election). The Center for Media and Democracy identified Uihlein and Donors Trust as funders of the Federalist.
In the same investigative report, CMD noted, in 2019, Donors trust made a “major donation to the White nationalist group, VDARE.”