How Jack Smith’s report shows a 'post-constitutional moment' for America: ex-Bush speechwriter

14 January

One of two volumes of former U.S. Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith's final report on his cases against Donald Trump was released early Tuesday morning, January 14: the volume focusing on his election interference case against the president-elect. The other volume addresses the Mar-a-Lago/classified documents case.

Never Trump conservative David Frum, a former George W. Bush speechwriter, examines in Smith's report in an article published by The Atlantic the day of its release. And Frum's takeaway is that the report underscores the "post-constitutional moment" the United States is facing.

"No prosecution will now take place…. Instead, the special counsel’s report delivers a confession of the helplessness of the U.S. government," Frum writes. "Smith asserts that the evidence was sufficient to convict Trump of serious crimes — and then declares the constitutional system powerless to act: The criminal is now the president-elect, therefore his crime cannot be punished."

Frum continues, "The report suggests that if the law had moved faster, then Trump today would be a convict, not a president. But the law did not move fast. Why not? Whose fault was that? Fingers will point, but the finger-pointing does not matter. What matters is the outcome and the message."

Trump, Frum notes, "swore to uphold the Constitution in January 2017" but "violated that oath in January 2021."

" Now, in January 2025, he will swear it again," Frum laments. "The ritual survives. Its meaning has been lost…. Now comes the Smith report with its simpler answer: If a president wins reelection, he has immunity for even the worst possible crimes committed during his first term in office."

Frum adds, "The incentives contained in this outcome are clear, if perverse. And they are deeply sinister to the future of democracy in the United States."

David Frum's full article for The Atlantic is available at this link (subscription required).

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