Jack Smith prosecuted Donald Trump twice. Trump won the election. Smith now fears Trump might prosecute him back. This is called consequences.
The man who built two federal criminal cases against a former president didn't think about what happens if that former president becomes the current president again. Imagine a chess player who plans three moves ahead but forgets the board has another side. Except the chess player went to law school.
Smith told the press he's "very concerned" about the next election. He could be indicted by the DOJ given Trump's animus toward him. Animus is lawyer-speak for "this guy really f*cking hates me." Which tracks. You don't get to indict someone for hoarding classified documents and trying to overturn an election without building a little workplace tension.
The beauty here is the symmetry. Smith thought Trump belonged in prison. Trump thinks Smith belongs in prison. Both men have law degrees. Both men have strong opinions about the criminal justice system. Only one of them controls the Department of Justice now.
Retail traders are currently trying to figure out which defense contractor stocks benefit from a Jack Smith indictment. They're building spreadsheets. They're drawing trendlines on charts of prison construction companies. They think this is an arbitrage opportunity. It's not. It's two lawyers who spent years trying to destroy each other finally getting what they wanted, which is more time together.
Smith spent his career as a prosecutor. He knows how investigations work. He knows how indictments get written. He knows what discovery looks like from the other side. This will be the most informed perp walk in American history.
Photo by Pau Casals on Unsplash
Leave a Comment