FBI agent in Fulton.Image: keystone
analysis
Feb 6, 2026, 11:41 amFeb 6, 2026, 11:57 am
If you really want to understand how Donald Trump thinks, this is it Report by Special Counsel Jack Smith recommended. Reading is not enjoyable. But it is a historical document that shows what makes the biggest political phenomenon of our time tick.
In his report, Smith brings together the findings of how Donald Trump tried to overturn the lost 2020 election in his favor. These are not fantasy stories or baseless accusations. There are verifiable facts, statements under oath, telephone recordings.
Jack Smith before testifying before the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee.Image: keystone
In typical legal English – without flowery words – the 174 pages paint the picture of a man criminal to the bone. Trump seems completely immune to empathy, truth, morality or understanding of democracy. The entire US administration must put itself at his service. Anyone who doesn’t act will be thrown to the MAGA crowd.
What is generally underestimated is how goal-oriented, calculating and dogged he is. The man who is always good for an inappropriate saying, the stupid entertainer, is in fact a stubborn pit bull. This is very clear from the Smiths report. Trump even had a three-step plan for this.
First he tried with votes. In Georgia, he called on Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find 11,780 votes.” When he refused, Trump resorted to the threat: “It [den angeblichen Wahlbetrug] not to report… that’s a criminal offense… That’s a big risk for you…” Raffensperger, who had integrity, stood firm.
Republican Brad Raffensperger refused to let Trump’s threats bring him to his knees.Image: keystone
After failing at Georgia, he tried at Arizona. There, too, he claimed to the governor that election fraud had been committed in his state. When he demanded evidence, Trump promised to provide it. Things fizzled out after that.
Because he couldn’t achieve his goal with fabricated votes, Trump developed a new plan together with his six co-conspirators: He started with the electors. In the USA, the president is not elected directly – voters elect electors who then represent their state in Washington. Trump tried to take advantage of this somewhat strange system. He tried again in Arizona.
Together with co-conspirator 1, most likely Rudy Giuliani, Donald Trump confronted the Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives on November 22nd. Again they made up allegations of fraud. Their proposal was to replace Arizona’s legitimate electors with their own, illegitimate ones. Two days earlier, he had invited a delegation from Michigan to the White House with the same goal. He also put pressure on her. Because there was no success in both Arizona and Michigan, Trump tried the criminal scam in five other states (Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin).
When this plan also failed, Trump’s hopes shifted to his deputy Mike Pence. He called on him to use his position as President of the Senate to change the election results. Trump specifically lied to Pence and said that the “Department of Justice had found serious violations.” Pence, decried as submissive and pale, resisted. In a one-on-one conversation, Trump then told him that he had given him no choice and that he would now have to criticize him publicly – which Trump did at the next opportunity. This later even put the Vice President’s life in danger.
Mike Pence showed more backbone than many gave him credit for.Image: keystone
When Mike Pence, contrary to Donald Trump’s wishes, certified the election results in the Capitol on January 6th, a mob of demonstrators had already gathered in front of the Capitol. Trump tweeted: “Mike Pence did not have the courage to do what should have been done to protect our country and our Constitution… The USA demands the truth!” A minute after the tweet, Mike Pence had to be evacuated from the Capitol by a security team. The angry mob forced their way into the building. Five people lost their lives in the riots or their consequences.
The list of events is not new. But it is important to understand what measures Donald Trump uses to avoid appearing as a loser. And it’s important to understand that preventing election fraud required Republicans like Raffensperger and Pence who came to their senses at the right moment.
But people like Pence and Raffensperger cannot be found in the current Trump cabinet. Attorney General Pam Bondi has become Trump’s personal chief prosecutor. FBI chief Kash Patel has turned the country’s most powerful law enforcement agency into an “instrument of the president’s whims,” as the political observer and commentator Ken Dilanian of MS Now formulated.
Dilanian’s thesis seems correct. In a little-noticed operation last week, FBI agents confiscated all 2020 presidential election ballots from Fulton County, Georgia. This, even though a judge had forbidden them to do so. This despite the fact that all eight lawsuits that Donald Trump and his team had filed in this state alleging election fraud had been thrown out. But Trump finally wants to make the big lie about the stolen election socially acceptable.
Trump’s eyes in Georgia: Secret Service chief Tulsi Gabbard oversees the raid on the Fulton election center.Image: keystone
Whether he succeeds in his coup in Georgia also depends on the integrity of the people involved. Smith lists at least six co-conspirators – there are enough people willing to corrupt themselves for the president. Whether Tulsi Gabbard is one of them remains to be seen. The Director of National Intelligence was on site in Fulton and monitored the operation – which is extremely unusual. Also irritating: Normally, the FBI only gets involved in elections if there is suspicion of foreign influence. And the icing on the cake: like that New York Times Reportedly, Donald Trump himself called some of the emergency services. From the descriptions above we know what tone he can use in such conversations.
The operation in Georgia was accompanied by various inconsistencies. The agent assigned to the line had resigned a week earlier, the search warrants had various deficiencies. But what’s really concerning is the actual confiscation of the documents, according to Pamela Smith, president and CEO of Verified Voting, an election security organization Guardian explains: “Removing ballots and other election materials from their secure, locally controlled environment breaks the chain of custody, making future claims based on these materials unreliable.”
Received a call that Raffensperger’s arrest was pending: Fulton County Commission Chairman Rob Pitts. Image: keystone
The raid in Georgia in the run-up to the midterms is both a show of force and a threat. Two days earlier, the chairman of the Fulton County Commission warned by telephoneState Secretary Raffensperger and his former deputy Gabriel Sterling are threatened with immediate arrest: this is also an intimidation tactic – and an attempt to fathom the resilience of the system. The tactic is popular with Donald Trump. He rushes forward and observes the reaction. He interprets low resistance – few stones in the way – as a sign to draw the bow further. Parents know this approach from small children.
His comments that elections in 15 states need to be “nationalized” fall into the same pattern. This contradicts the federal constitution. Elections in the United States are governed by state laws. When asked about this, spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt responded flippantly: “The president was obviously making a joke.” When Donald Trump repeated his joke one day, it was already said: “The President, of course, believes in the Constitution, but…” And if Donald Trump doesn’t add fuel to the fire, his allies will come to his aid. Namely Steve Bannon. The former close adviser recently announced that the administration would place ICE agents next to ballot boxes in the midterms.
It is not new that Donald Trump is a thorn in the side of the current US electoral system. With the SAVE Act, for example, he only wants to allow Americans to vote who have either an American birth certificate or a passport. At first it sounds sensible – but not in the American context. In the USA the mills grind differently than in this country. Anyone who changes their place of residence does not have to register this; documents such as a birth certificate or a passport are rarely or never required. Over 20 million eligible U.S. citizens have neither. The harassment continues: There are proposals to restrict postal voting, and there is even talk of abolishing it.
With the targeted legal prosecution of his political opponents, Donald Trump has proven himself to be a miserable winner. The only thing he’s worse at is losing. A defeat in the midterms cannot be allowed. And Trump is prepared to use criminal methods to prevent it. Jack Smith’s report proves this, This is proven by countless derailments in the last year. And in contrast to his first term in office, the current administration lacks the character, will and competence to get the president, who has spiraled out of control, under control.
The world lies as it pleases: Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem.Image: keystone
An example of the state of the government is how it tried to portray the murder of Alex Pretti as self-defense. Even though the entire world knew the case from various angles and saw that Pretti was holding a phone, Homeland Security Secretary Noem portrayed him as a gun-wielding terrorist. These people are ready to declare broad daylight night. Respect for citizens, for fundamental rights and democratic values is no longer evident. This ignorance is combined with an unrivaled shamelessness and autocratic power fantasies. The November midterms will provide just further evidence of this.
Jack Smith’s report ends by saying that Trump’s crimes in attempting to overturn the 2020 election are so obvious, the evidence so clear, that it would have been enough to convict him in court. That didn’t happen. Trump was re-elected president. Presidents cannot be prosecuted. “If”, “would” and “would have”, “why not sooner” and “how could they elect someone like that again” never tasted more bitter.