Lawfare: Understanding The Smear Campaign Waged Against Trump & His Supporters
The tactic was popularized in the 60s, and shows no sign of slowing
We hear a lot about lawfare these days. What is it really?
Back in the 60s radicals freely declared that if they could not stop nuclear power (for example) via legislation, they’d be glad to achieve their goals by legal action. They declared by electing and appointing leftist judges, and training and deploying leftist attorneys, much could be accomplished without regard to legislatures, governors or presidents. And if ripping up the Constitution did not do the trick, riots would have to do.
Lawfare points to public and private actors waging war to promote policy by lawsuits, especially in the realm of environmental policy. Lawfare is also a term for using the legal system as a weapon against political opponents. In the case of President Trump, the N.Y. district attorney doesn’t even need a crime in order to prosecute, or so he asserts.
To clarify and expand, “lawfare is the use of law, or exploitation of aspects of a legal system, to achieve tactical or strategic advantages in the context of conflict. Lawfare is the use of law as a weapon of war,” Craig Martin, law professor, Washburn University School of Law.
We use it against our enemies, and they use it against us. (Note the recent news that the International Criminal Court (ICC) claims standing to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his defense secretary, and several Hamas leaders, accusing them of war crimes in Gaza and Israel. The trouble is the ICC has no jurisdiction. Still, it is an example of international lawfare!)
War will rage internally and externally, for as long as it takes, no holds barred. This helps explain why Trump is facing four indictments and 91 felony charges right before the election. It is the unfolding of a lawfare war plan by anti-American powers to vaporize Trump and the entire MAGA movement.
As with Soviet, Chinese, North Korean or Iranian show trials, once someone is accused, there is no escape. There is no rule of law. The accusation is the conviction leading to execution. Is this the first big step toward American show trials? Without doubt.