Unlike with their breathless 2016 coverage of Hillary Clinton’s emails, the New York Times is giving the latest federal indictments of Donald J. Trump below-the-fold treatment. So it goes. Anyone relying on the Grey Lady to be a tool of the resistance will be disappointed. At times, it seems like they’re the exact opposite. CNN has more appropriate coverage:

Special counsel Jack Smith defiantly re-injected the question of Donald Trump’s bid to steal the 2020 election into the intensifying end game of this year’s White House race.

By trying to rescue his case after his initial indictment was gutted by the Supreme Court’s immunity ruling, Smith signaled that he is determined to bring the former president to justice — even though there will be no trial before Election Day.

“I think this is basically Jack Smith saying, ‘I still got this’” former FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe, a CNN legal and national security commentator, said after the special counsel on Tuesday filed a modified indictment endorsed by a new grand jury.

His move underscored the huge personal investment Trump has in winning the presidency in November: He not only would return to the nation’s top office, but would also gain the authority to halt this and another federal case against him and head off any sentences that could include jail time if he is convicted.

And CNN did a good job of explaining the stakes, considering the Supreme Court’s recent decision to make ex-presidents virtually immune from prosecution for any official acts they committed in office:

The decision also sent shockwaves through an already tumultuous presidential race, since it appeared to offer an ex-president who already believed he was all powerful the chance to pursue strongman rule if he wins November’s election. Democratic nominee Kamala Harris criticized the decision in her convention speech last week: “Consider, the power he will have … Just imagine Donald Trump with no guardrails, and how he would use the immense powers of the presidency of the United States.”

Smith’s move also creates other profound political, legal, and constitutional overtones at a critical national moment, 10 weeks from an election that could profoundly reshape the country and that may again test its institutions to the limit.

CNN concludes by predicting that future historians will ask precisely what voters should be asking right now:

Biden’s departure from the campaign and the pomp of the conventions have made Trump’s threat to democracy somewhat of an afterthought in recent weeks but the question of how a president who tried to overthrow American democracy avoided accountability and was able to run again for the White House — and potentially win it — is certain to preoccupy future historians.

Yes, how the fuck has Trump been able to run for office again after trying to commit a coup d’état? And why is so competitive that was until recently the clear favorite?

Jack Smith’s new superseding indictment may pass muster with the Supreme Court but he’ll only get the chance to try this case if Trump loses. Everyone blithely assumes, no doubt correctly, that if elected Trump will fire Smith and order the Department of Justice to drop all charges against him. But did President Joe Biden fire the prosecutors who won a conviction against his son? Did he abuse his power to make the charges go away? And if he had, would the Grey Lady put that above the fold?

You can bet your sweet ass they would have.

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