“Lawfare” must have seemed like the perfect tactic to elite party operatives like Andrew Weissman, who have long since forgotten that popular sovereignty is the essence of the democracy they claim to defend.
Attacking Trump with a battery of prosecutions was bound to yield a conviction for something, if not everything. He would then be labeled a “convicted criminal” — better yet, a “convicted felon.” He might be sent to prison — certainly for the election, possibly for life.
Who could possibly vote for a felon? The very prospect of being labeled a criminal ought to have been enough to push Trump out of the presidential race.
Perhaps once he had dropped out of politics in disgrace, President Joe Biden — who could not resist taking a keen interest in Trump’s conviction — might have pardoned him, encouraging governors in New York and Georgia to do likewise. Alternatively, they could watch him rot in prison — revenge, finally, for 2016.
Even if Trump somehow decided to stay in the race, that would doom the Republican ticket. It was always possible that at least some portion of the Republican base would remain loyal to Trump, rallying to his side, splitting the party, dooming the nominee.
The “lawfare” Democrats could not believe their luck when the vast majority of GOP voters stuck with Trump. This was better than anything they could have planned: Trump was the nominee. Game over.
After that, the pleasure of watching Trump convicted in New York — never mind the biased jury pool, the ridiculous charge, the conflicted judge, the discredited witnesses, the unconstitutional gag order — paled in comparison.
To know that Trump was not only a “convicted felon,” but also the Republican nominee, must have been a thrill. And the massive civil judgments against Trump for “rape” — which it wasn’t — and defamation were just icing on the cake.
It all worked so perfectly that Democrats never bothered to ask themselves whether their own presumptive nominee was up to the job.
Biden faced no real primary, no debates; he did not have to get out on the stump, to press the flesh, to hear directly from voters.
It is normal for incumbents to enjoy some kind of protection, but Democrats went much further, changing their primary rules to put South Carolina first, guaranteeing him the nomination without effort.
Conservatives had been saying for years — well before the 2020 election — that Biden was losing it; that he was aging rapidly before our eyes; that he could not function in the Oval Office, and that it was a form of elder abuse to push him into it.
Democrats could see the same thing, but convinced themselves it didn’t matter — that cringey videos were “cheap fakes,” that Biden could do well enough, and that the most important thing was the team behind him, anyway.
Besides — the “lawfare” was overwhelming, and it was guaranteed to work. Judge Aileen Cannon, who is overseeing the “documents” case in Florida, might have had other ideas; so, too, might Judge Maryellen Noreika, the judge who blew up Hunter Biden’s sweetheart plea deal in Delaware.
They were both Trump-appointed judges, and both women, meaning they could be regarded as tokens: appointed for their loyalty, and gender, not legal expertise.
And so team “lawfare” approached the 2024 election with a high degree of confidence, especially after the first guilty verdicts landed.
The enthusiasm of the Trump base was alarming, but vote-by-mail would take care of that. The prosecutions hit a few speed bumps — but they kept Trump off the campaign trial. So far, so good.
Except for Biden. Biden was not good.
But by the time they could no longer deny it, it was too late. “Lawfare” had made sure of that.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of the recent e-book, “The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency,” now available on Audible. He is also the author of the e-book, Neither Free nor Fair: The 2020 U.S. Presidential Election. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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