Jack Smith exudes calm and dignity in the midst of storm. I listened to part of his testimony. I did not see exactly who was questioning, but did notice the initial questions being posited, were intended to trip Mr. Smith up, to get him to state something they could use against him. It failed bigly. He was so calm, stated he followed the law, followed the information and data, followed writs and subpoenas as written, was narrow in acquisitions, talked daily to those tasked with investigations as well as Garland. And clearly responded to questions without elaboration or gaslighting. Very refreshing after listening to TDS2 cabinet members ‘testifying’. I am so glad there are written records, oral documentation, and also video of his testimony. Now I am very curious about the part he was not allowed to speak about. Apparently, Judge Canon squashed that.
It is also good that this will haunt TDS2 and the regime+ GOP. Fantastic 2025 Coda and ready for 2026 reset!
Thanks for all you do, Jack. Your excellent columns on events with material to help us understand, deal with, or prepare has been a godsend. May you enjoy New Year’s Eve and have a blessed and very Happy New Year 2026!
The questioning WAS designed to trip him...invite speculation...force overreach..create a clip that could be weaponized later.
And...the fact that it failed so cleanly...tells you everything you need to know about how disciplined that testimony was!
Smith stayed inside the lane of law...process...and record. No dramatics. No defensiveness. No excess words...that could be twisted later.
That kind of restraint doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the posture of someone who understands that what matters most isn’t how the moment feels...but how it reads... replays...and ages.
Your contrast with other recent “testimony” is an important one.
What made Smith’s appearance refreshing is precisely what makes it consequential:
clarity without spin...answers without performance...and an obvious awareness that this record will be revisited long after today’s politics have shifted.
And...you’re right to be curious about what he wasn’t allowed to discuss. When material is limited by a judge...it doesn’t disappear...it just moves to a different venue or a different time.
History is full of examples where the suppressed parts turn out to be the MOST revealing later on.
I appreciate your note more than I can easily put into words.
Knowing that the work helps people understand...orient...and prepare...not just react...is exactly why I keep doing it.
Ending 2025 with readers like YOU engaged...thoughtful...and ready for what comes next feels like the right coda.
Wishing you a peaceful New Year’s Eve and a strong...clear-eyed start to 2026, Jo!
Rae...that’s exactly it...he did the job. No theatrics...no shortcuts...no freelancing. Just discipline...procedure...and respect for the record. A masterclass is the right word.
And...I get the relief you’re describing. When you’ve been watching years of distortion... evasion...and bad-faith performance...seeing someone simply do the work by the book can feel almost surreal.
It’s not flashy...but it’s deeply satisfying...because it’s how accountability actually gets built.
Your last line made me laugh...but it also lands on something real. The challenge now isn’t competence...it’s restraint. The power of what Smith did is precisely that he didn’t try to blow anything up.
He let the facts sit where they belong and trusted that time and record will do their work.
That kind of patience is rare. And it’s why this chapter matters.
Thanks for sharing this...and for sticking through the l o n g... stretch it took to get here!
Jack Smith is my Man of the Decade! History will remember him in a special light that sheds truth on our history for our children and grandchildren. I am happy he testified and the records are now safe for the future. God Bless Jack Smith for working to save our Democracy's real history of Trump forever! Now let him write an autobiography for history to be published when he can. I may not live to read it, but my son and grandson will! This is a good way to end a bad political year.
Jack Hopkins, I wish you and yours a very Happy New Year! You are a guiding light to this sassy old lady.
Brenda...that’s incredibly generous...and deeply moving to read.
What Jack Smith represents for so many people...isn’t just a single investigation or testimony. It’s the reassurance...that someone was willing to do the work carefully... lawfully...and without theatrics...so the record would exist for the future...no matter how uncomfortable it made the present.
You’re right about the importance of that record. History doesn’t survive on vibes or slogans....it survives on documentation...sworn testimony...and people who are willing to let the TRUTH sit there quietly...until the time comes for it to be understood.
That’s the gift Smith leaves behind...something solid for future generations to study... without the fog of spin.
And...thank you for your kind words to me. Being called a “guiding light” is something I don’t take lightly at all.
Knowing the work resonates with sharp...thoughtful readers like you...especially after such a bruising political year...means more than I can easily say.
Wishing YOU and your family a peaceful...hopeful New Year. And thank you for being here...engaged...and unapologetically clear-eyed.
Thank you for your work all year! This post is right on the money. Transcript testimony is so powerful. Video of that testimony drives the dagger through any lying heart. - I’m a former trial lawyer and judge and was on both ends of the dagger with my clients. Thanks Jack!!!
Thank you! Coming from someone who’s actually lived on both sides of the courtroom... that means a great deal.
You’re exactly right about the power of transcript and video testimony. Once words are sworn...recorded...and preserved...they take on a life of their own. (And from the fits being thrown by MAGA...over on X...that "life," they've taken on...is scaring them.)
They don’t bend to spin...they don’t forget...and they don’t need volume to do damage.
As you know...better than most...that’s where credibility either holds...or collapses.
Your phrase “drives the dagger” is apt...because the real force isn’t theatrical. It’s cumulative.
It’s the quiet inevitability of a clean record...meeting a false narrative later on.
I appreciate you reading all year...and I appreciate you taking the time to say this. It reinforces why focusing on record...process...and durability matters far more than chasing the moment.
Thank you so much for everything you do specifically this last article.. WOW.. it’s amazing! Truly..I hope this New Year brings more insight and hopefully some peace.. 🤙🏽
Morgan...thank you...that really means a lot to me.
This last article mattered to write...and knowing it landed the way it did for you makes the effort feel more than worthwhile.
Moments like this are exactly why I keep going...even when the material is heavy and the landscape feels exhausting.
I share your hope for more insight...and yes...some peace too...in the year ahead. We’ll keep paying attention...but...we’ll also keep grounding ourselves along the way.
Wishing you a calm...restorative New Year...and thank you for being here!
Thank you for this. Have not read more then the first 20 pages or so, but the rest is for tomorrow. Happy New Year, Jack. #HoldFast and here's to more sanity.
Roberta...you’re very welcome...and thank YOU for taking the time to read at your own pace.
This is the kind of piece that’s better absorbed in stretches anyway...not rushed.
I appreciate the sentiment more than you know. “Hold fast” is exactly right...steady...clear-eyed...and grounded in reality....even when things feel unsettled.
Wishing you a peaceful New Year...and plenty more sanity in the year ahead. I’m glad you’re here!
Jack, my husband is an AF vet, I worked for the DoD helping first soldiers learn to read, then AF families learn to cope with military life. Can't sit on the sidelines now. Too much at stake. So tonight, open the doors, let the old year out the back, welcome 2026 through the front door where we #HoldFast or lose it all.
A fine coda to a fucked year. I was actually sorta looking forward to this one when I saw the news of the release, and what you write is an articulation of the way I feel about this event, only a lot more succinct and detail specific. Not to mention framing it in a way that’s outside of my skill set and for that matter, imagination. But we’ve come to expect no less.
Thanks for being a continued inspiration. Now get some rest, take personal time, we’ll survive- and not just wishing a very happy new year to you and yours, but sending much gratitude.
Jack, thank you for this! You have articulated what I’ve sensed but couldn’t put into words. The first time I saw Jack Smith and heard him speak, I had a sense that NO ONE (unless you are supremely stupid) is wise to eff with him. I was very disappointed when his case was slow walked then dismissed once the new regime took office. I was surprised the transcript of his deposition before the congressional committee was posted and quickly downloaded it just in case it disappears.
I thought early on that Smith would be the downfall of t. Based on what you’ve laid out, he is, just in a different way than I’d thought. It will be very interesting to see how the R’s end up playing this. A trap indeed!
Again, thank you! and may you and those you love have a fantastic 2026.
I've been following Jack Smith for awhile. What a solid citizen! That he can wade into the swamp and remain standing, stalwart, and unwavering speaks to his incredible integrity. Back in June, my friend and I put together a sign for her to carry in the No Kings parade: a picture of Jack and, below it, JACK SMITH FOR PRESIDENT. I have mentioned this before in one of my thousands of comments on Substack. I have come to think that it's not a bad idea. He is an amazing example of what a patriot really looks like. He has my vote.
Jim Jordan is so ignorant. He thinks/thought he would be smarter than Jack Smith. HA! Issuing a subpoena for Smith to testify was a GIFT. You don't serve as a specialist prosecutor at The Hague without possessing a high degree of intelligence and acumen --- something that seems to have been forgotten by many of these banty-rooster republicans strutting around.
Banty-rooster Republicans! Love it. TRUE STORY: My grandfather had a chicken farm. A rooster 🐓 made the mistake of flogging my sister so grandma grabbed him, rung his neck and we had chicken and dumplings for supper. Repubs need to be aware that Democrat grandmas protect their grandkids when a damn smarta$$ Republican rooster hurts one of them. They might just wind up in the strew pot for supper!
10 pm on New Year’s Eve, reading how Jack Smith and Jack Hopkins both approach situations calmly. I love it. It drives them crazy and they can’t un-see it. Thank you for the lessons this year 💕👹
Hurray for Jack Smith doing what he does best. The old saying "slow and steady wins the race". This was great to see all this become public as they refused to let him do this publicly and live. To have both video and written copies we can all see for ourselves. With all the criminality that drumpf is doing in Venezuela< Nigeria, Iran and another place he wants to attack we needed some good news. This gives all of us a boost coming into the new year. What will be interesting is to see what tomorrow brings from dear leader...I hope this helps to keep him from being able to takeoff r the 3 DC golf courses owned by the parks dept. I hope they bring litigation to stop him as from what i read he does not have the authority to cancel the agreement that was signed in 2020. #HOLDFAST everyone. We can do this.
Thank you for this Jack. I have nothing profound to add because you’ve already said what I needed to hear.. THIS MATTERED! It felt somewhat anticlimactic and in a way I guess it is but now I realize it’ll stick… not just for Trump but for the entire GOP. Jack Smith did his job. He did it as it should be done. He has the receipts and now they’re out there in a way that can’t be silenced. I’ve admired his calm, steady and very thorough work from the beginning and even more so now. You were right to end the year on this. Thank you!
A Happy and Blessed New Year to you and your family. See you on the flip side. We have work to do.
Jack Smith exudes calm and dignity in the midst of storm. I listened to part of his testimony. I did not see exactly who was questioning, but did notice the initial questions being posited, were intended to trip Mr. Smith up, to get him to state something they could use against him. It failed bigly. He was so calm, stated he followed the law, followed the information and data, followed writs and subpoenas as written, was narrow in acquisitions, talked daily to those tasked with investigations as well as Garland. And clearly responded to questions without elaboration or gaslighting. Very refreshing after listening to TDS2 cabinet members ‘testifying’. I am so glad there are written records, oral documentation, and also video of his testimony. Now I am very curious about the part he was not allowed to speak about. Apparently, Judge Canon squashed that.
It is also good that this will haunt TDS2 and the regime+ GOP. Fantastic 2025 Coda and ready for 2026 reset!
Thanks for all you do, Jack. Your excellent columns on events with material to help us understand, deal with, or prepare has been a godsend. May you enjoy New Year’s Eve and have a blessed and very Happy New Year 2026!
Jo...you picked up on exactly what mattered.
The questioning WAS designed to trip him...invite speculation...force overreach..create a clip that could be weaponized later.
And...the fact that it failed so cleanly...tells you everything you need to know about how disciplined that testimony was!
Smith stayed inside the lane of law...process...and record. No dramatics. No defensiveness. No excess words...that could be twisted later.
That kind of restraint doesn’t happen by accident. It’s the posture of someone who understands that what matters most isn’t how the moment feels...but how it reads... replays...and ages.
Your contrast with other recent “testimony” is an important one.
What made Smith’s appearance refreshing is precisely what makes it consequential:
clarity without spin...answers without performance...and an obvious awareness that this record will be revisited long after today’s politics have shifted.
And...you’re right to be curious about what he wasn’t allowed to discuss. When material is limited by a judge...it doesn’t disappear...it just moves to a different venue or a different time.
History is full of examples where the suppressed parts turn out to be the MOST revealing later on.
I appreciate your note more than I can easily put into words.
Knowing that the work helps people understand...orient...and prepare...not just react...is exactly why I keep doing it.
Ending 2025 with readers like YOU engaged...thoughtful...and ready for what comes next feels like the right coda.
Wishing you a peaceful New Year’s Eve and a strong...clear-eyed start to 2026, Jo!
-Jack
See you next year!
#HoldFast
i second, or to be more accurate, 38th these thoughts!
Jack Smith did his job.
He did it well, thoroughly and by the book. It was a masterclass. I’ve been waiting and hoping for just this kind of chapter to be written.
Right now it feels better than ice cream.
I just hope his handlers can keep him from blowing somebody up tomorrow.
#HoldFast
Rae...that’s exactly it...he did the job. No theatrics...no shortcuts...no freelancing. Just discipline...procedure...and respect for the record. A masterclass is the right word.
And...I get the relief you’re describing. When you’ve been watching years of distortion... evasion...and bad-faith performance...seeing someone simply do the work by the book can feel almost surreal.
It’s not flashy...but it’s deeply satisfying...because it’s how accountability actually gets built.
Your last line made me laugh...but it also lands on something real. The challenge now isn’t competence...it’s restraint. The power of what Smith did is precisely that he didn’t try to blow anything up.
He let the facts sit where they belong and trusted that time and record will do their work.
That kind of patience is rare. And it’s why this chapter matters.
Thanks for sharing this...and for sticking through the l o n g... stretch it took to get here!
-Jack
Right on Cherie!!👍
Jack Smith is my Man of the Decade! History will remember him in a special light that sheds truth on our history for our children and grandchildren. I am happy he testified and the records are now safe for the future. God Bless Jack Smith for working to save our Democracy's real history of Trump forever! Now let him write an autobiography for history to be published when he can. I may not live to read it, but my son and grandson will! This is a good way to end a bad political year.
Jack Hopkins, I wish you and yours a very Happy New Year! You are a guiding light to this sassy old lady.
Brenda...that’s incredibly generous...and deeply moving to read.
What Jack Smith represents for so many people...isn’t just a single investigation or testimony. It’s the reassurance...that someone was willing to do the work carefully... lawfully...and without theatrics...so the record would exist for the future...no matter how uncomfortable it made the present.
You’re right about the importance of that record. History doesn’t survive on vibes or slogans....it survives on documentation...sworn testimony...and people who are willing to let the TRUTH sit there quietly...until the time comes for it to be understood.
That’s the gift Smith leaves behind...something solid for future generations to study... without the fog of spin.
And...thank you for your kind words to me. Being called a “guiding light” is something I don’t take lightly at all.
Knowing the work resonates with sharp...thoughtful readers like you...especially after such a bruising political year...means more than I can easily say.
Wishing YOU and your family a peaceful...hopeful New Year. And thank you for being here...engaged...and unapologetically clear-eyed.
-Jack
Make that 2 sassy old ladies!🥰
Three
:)
:)
Thank you for your work all year! This post is right on the money. Transcript testimony is so powerful. Video of that testimony drives the dagger through any lying heart. - I’m a former trial lawyer and judge and was on both ends of the dagger with my clients. Thanks Jack!!!
Thank you! Coming from someone who’s actually lived on both sides of the courtroom... that means a great deal.
You’re exactly right about the power of transcript and video testimony. Once words are sworn...recorded...and preserved...they take on a life of their own. (And from the fits being thrown by MAGA...over on X...that "life," they've taken on...is scaring them.)
They don’t bend to spin...they don’t forget...and they don’t need volume to do damage.
As you know...better than most...that’s where credibility either holds...or collapses.
Your phrase “drives the dagger” is apt...because the real force isn’t theatrical. It’s cumulative.
It’s the quiet inevitability of a clean record...meeting a false narrative later on.
I appreciate you reading all year...and I appreciate you taking the time to say this. It reinforces why focusing on record...process...and durability matters far more than chasing the moment.
-Jack
Thank you so much for everything you do specifically this last article.. WOW.. it’s amazing! Truly..I hope this New Year brings more insight and hopefully some peace.. 🤙🏽
Morgan...thank you...that really means a lot to me.
This last article mattered to write...and knowing it landed the way it did for you makes the effort feel more than worthwhile.
Moments like this are exactly why I keep going...even when the material is heavy and the landscape feels exhausting.
I share your hope for more insight...and yes...some peace too...in the year ahead. We’ll keep paying attention...but...we’ll also keep grounding ourselves along the way.
Wishing you a calm...restorative New Year...and thank you for being here!
-Jack
You keep my anxiety at bay and that’s saying something. We move forward. One damn step at a time.. even if it’s just an inch..
Thank you for this. Have not read more then the first 20 pages or so, but the rest is for tomorrow. Happy New Year, Jack. #HoldFast and here's to more sanity.
Roberta...you’re very welcome...and thank YOU for taking the time to read at your own pace.
This is the kind of piece that’s better absorbed in stretches anyway...not rushed.
I appreciate the sentiment more than you know. “Hold fast” is exactly right...steady...clear-eyed...and grounded in reality....even when things feel unsettled.
Wishing you a peaceful New Year...and plenty more sanity in the year ahead. I’m glad you’re here!
-Jack
Jack, my husband is an AF vet, I worked for the DoD helping first soldiers learn to read, then AF families learn to cope with military life. Can't sit on the sidelines now. Too much at stake. So tonight, open the doors, let the old year out the back, welcome 2026 through the front door where we #HoldFast or lose it all.
A fine coda to a fucked year. I was actually sorta looking forward to this one when I saw the news of the release, and what you write is an articulation of the way I feel about this event, only a lot more succinct and detail specific. Not to mention framing it in a way that’s outside of my skill set and for that matter, imagination. But we’ve come to expect no less.
Thanks for being a continued inspiration. Now get some rest, take personal time, we’ll survive- and not just wishing a very happy new year to you and yours, but sending much gratitude.
Jack, thank you for this! You have articulated what I’ve sensed but couldn’t put into words. The first time I saw Jack Smith and heard him speak, I had a sense that NO ONE (unless you are supremely stupid) is wise to eff with him. I was very disappointed when his case was slow walked then dismissed once the new regime took office. I was surprised the transcript of his deposition before the congressional committee was posted and quickly downloaded it just in case it disappears.
I thought early on that Smith would be the downfall of t. Based on what you’ve laid out, he is, just in a different way than I’d thought. It will be very interesting to see how the R’s end up playing this. A trap indeed!
Again, thank you! and may you and those you love have a fantastic 2026.
I've been following Jack Smith for awhile. What a solid citizen! That he can wade into the swamp and remain standing, stalwart, and unwavering speaks to his incredible integrity. Back in June, my friend and I put together a sign for her to carry in the No Kings parade: a picture of Jack and, below it, JACK SMITH FOR PRESIDENT. I have mentioned this before in one of my thousands of comments on Substack. I have come to think that it's not a bad idea. He is an amazing example of what a patriot really looks like. He has my vote.
Mine too Jan!!
Jim Jordan is so ignorant. He thinks/thought he would be smarter than Jack Smith. HA! Issuing a subpoena for Smith to testify was a GIFT. You don't serve as a specialist prosecutor at The Hague without possessing a high degree of intelligence and acumen --- something that seems to have been forgotten by many of these banty-rooster republicans strutting around.
Banty-rooster Republicans! Love it. TRUE STORY: My grandfather had a chicken farm. A rooster 🐓 made the mistake of flogging my sister so grandma grabbed him, rung his neck and we had chicken and dumplings for supper. Repubs need to be aware that Democrat grandmas protect their grandkids when a damn smarta$$ Republican rooster hurts one of them. They might just wind up in the strew pot for supper!
And to all, a goodbye 2025.
10 pm on New Year’s Eve, reading how Jack Smith and Jack Hopkins both approach situations calmly. I love it. It drives them crazy and they can’t un-see it. Thank you for the lessons this year 💕👹
Hurray for Jack Smith doing what he does best. The old saying "slow and steady wins the race". This was great to see all this become public as they refused to let him do this publicly and live. To have both video and written copies we can all see for ourselves. With all the criminality that drumpf is doing in Venezuela< Nigeria, Iran and another place he wants to attack we needed some good news. This gives all of us a boost coming into the new year. What will be interesting is to see what tomorrow brings from dear leader...I hope this helps to keep him from being able to takeoff r the 3 DC golf courses owned by the parks dept. I hope they bring litigation to stop him as from what i read he does not have the authority to cancel the agreement that was signed in 2020. #HOLDFAST everyone. We can do this.
I have noticed no more talk by the GOP about their phones being taken with subpoenas . They must’ve taken the hint, they need to shut up!
Words testified are words that cannot be gaslighted.
Thank you for this Jack. I have nothing profound to add because you’ve already said what I needed to hear.. THIS MATTERED! It felt somewhat anticlimactic and in a way I guess it is but now I realize it’ll stick… not just for Trump but for the entire GOP. Jack Smith did his job. He did it as it should be done. He has the receipts and now they’re out there in a way that can’t be silenced. I’ve admired his calm, steady and very thorough work from the beginning and even more so now. You were right to end the year on this. Thank you!
A Happy and Blessed New Year to you and your family. See you on the flip side. We have work to do.
#HOLDFAST
~Susan