You’ve got to hand it to Special Counsel Jack Smith: He may not be very good at his job, but he lands the high-profile political cases.

In fact, this isn’t the first time he’s gone after a Republican presidential hopeful. Former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell was on every GOP short list as a possible presidential or vice presidential candidate.

Until Smith came calling.

Sure, Smith was able to get a conviction for fraud and extortion, but those were unanimously overturned by the U.S. Supreme Court.

How often does THAT happen?

Still, McDonnell’s political career was over, his reputation in tatters.

For Jack Smith it was mission accomplished.

It’s deja vu all over again. Smith will no doubt be able to secure a conviction against Donald Trump in a D.C. federal court in a jurisdiction where 95% of the ballots went to Biden in 2020 and where the judge doesn’t even bother to hide her contempt for conservatives.

This Obama-appointed federal judge reportedly scolded one of the January 6th defendants who was charged with four misdemeanors for daring to ask for a trial. She apparently believed he should have taken a plea deal like most of the others. In what was seen as retribution by some observers, the judge sentenced the man to a year in jail.

If there is a conviction this case will likely end up before the U.S. Supreme Court. Even if the Supremes overturn a Trump conviction, Smith could be successful in keeping Trump out of the White House.

Once again, it would be mission accomplished.

Smith has also prosecuted Democrats.

He tried to put former Sen . John Edwards in prison in 2011 for alleged campaign finance violations. The jury was deadlocked, a mistrial declared and the disgraced senator and John Kerry’s running mate was never retried.

Smith also led the investigation into Sen. Bob Menendez of New Jersey’s alleged bribery scheme. Smith didn’t prosecute the case, however, which ended in another mistrial.

I’m not a lawyer, but the latest charges against Trump seem weak. There are three conspiracy charges and one obstruction charge. All require the prosecutor to prove “criminal intent.” That means Smith has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Trump knew there was no election fraud then conspired to commit various crimes.

In what world doesn’t Trump believe he won the 2020 election? He’s been beating that drum since the day after the election. In fact there was fraud and an abundance of voting irregularities, thanks to the half-baked last-minute covid measures that some states recklessly slapped into place. 

That doesn’t mean I believe Trump won the election. I don’t. But like many Americans I think the election was riddled with problems. 

It’s not a crime to question the integrity of elections. If it were, a bevy of Democrats - from Hillary to Jimmy Carter - would be in prison for alleging that Trump’s victory in 2016 was “illegitimate.”

It’s also not a crime to lie. If it was, Joe Biden would be behind bars for his deliberate fictions about everything from his academic record to bizarre declarations that his son, Beau, died in Iraq.

Smith’s strongest case against Trump is widely thought to be the classified documents charges in Florida.

The latest?

It looks like Biden’s Department of Justice is bowing to pressure from the White House to to imprison Joe Biden’s chief political rival.

Chilling.