It is a fact that Donald Trump is in extreme legal peril. For allegedly violating the Espionage Act and other federal laws connected to that crime, he faces decades in prison. Trump will also likely be indicted for violating other laws across the country, such as in Georgia and Arizona, in connection with his coup attempt and the terrorist attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6. It is now being reported that Special Counsel Jack Smith and the Department of Justice have interviewed and taken other testimony from dozens of witnesses including members of Trump's inner circle regarding him and his coup cabal's activities in the weeks leading up to Jan. 6.
The so-called resistance and many others in the mainstream political class and news media who are eager to see Trump punished for his many crimes against democracy and American society more broadly are celebrating what they hope will be swift justice and the end of the Age of Trump. These celebrations, however, are very premature. Donald Trump's legal peril does not directly translate into political peril. During his decades-long de facto crime spree, Trump has shown an amazing capacity for not only evading responsibility but then surviving and triumphing. A similar dynamic is continuing at present, where the various criminal indictments, arrests, and investigations are only making Trump more popular among his followers, thus cementing his control as leader of the Republican Party and larger neofascist movement and white right.
