Former President Donald Trump is not likely to go to prison. Nor is he likely to be prosecuted for the events surrounding Jan. 6, 2021.
Confident claims to the contrary are the product of Twitter resistance fever swamp fantasies. Those offering such arguments either don’t understand the optics of former Supreme Court nominee-turned-Attorney General Merrick Garland indicting a former president who prevented him from sitting on the highest court.
Perhaps Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY) has given the game away by unequivocally stating that she is doing everything in her power to keep Trump away from another Oval Office stint. Whether you agree with Cheney’s tactics or strategy is beside the point. The point is that most right-minded folks believe that we’re not — and should not be — going down this rotten, partisan path. To do so would mean partisan retaliation. Hunter Biden, for example, would surely be indicted by the next Republican attorney general. With all due respect to Cheney, her Jan. 6 commission colleagues, all the blue-check resistance loons, and the professional Never Trumpers, none of you will decide Trump’s fate. That fate will be decided by the block of Americans you’ve come to loathe: GOP 2024 primary voters. No one else. If Trump walks back into the Oval Office, it will be because Joe Biden created the conditions for him to do so.
No amount of op-eds will keep Trump away from the White House for a second time. Professional Never Trump pundits who have enriched themselves with book deals and TV contracts and PACs won’t stop him either. Indeed, they still need him. They have fostered their entire professional identity around him. They need him as much as MSNBC continues to use Trump as a focal point for its viewership.
Again, if Trump is to be stopped, then it will have to be by GOP voters in primaries. For my two cents, GOP voters must settle on an alternative. They should send Trump a message that they are moving forward, disinterested in hearing more about his 2020 election conspiracies. Polling is starting to show just this.
GOP voters appear to be moving toward alternatives like Gov. Ron De Santis (R-FL), even as the press and pundits cling to the former president. The ballot box is the only way Trump is going away.
Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) has written for National Review, the New York Post, and Fox News and hosts the Versus Media podcast.
