Conservatives have a new term they like to use to message their victimhood to the world: “lawfare.”
Ever heard it? Think “warfare,” but instead of guns, the weapons of choice are gavels and lawyers. It essentially means using the law — often dubiously — to dismantle an opponent. And after former President Donald Trump’s four criminal indictments, right-wingers are using the term to bash liberals while also vowing to use lawfare themselves.
Perhaps you see the irony here.
Today’s Republican Party largely backs a man — Trump — and his cronies, people who openly engaged in shady efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election. Can you legitimately accuse someone of legal warfare when your crew stands accused of manipulating the law as part of a war on democracy?
Republicans are trying it.
Jeffrey Clark, a former Justice Department official, is facing racketeering charges alongside Trump and 18 others in Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis’ election interference probe. On Monday, Clark’s lawyers accused Willis of lawfare as they sought to have his case moved to federal court.
“We have faith that the federal courts will ultimately recognize this Action for what it is — a naked attempt to destroy Mr. Clark by ‘lawfare,’ cost him millions in legal fees, impair his work in the conservative legal community at the Center for Renewing America in Washington, D.C., and tarnish his previously stellar reputation,” the lawyers wrote in a court filing.
During an appearance Sunday on Fox News, former Trump adviser Stephen Miller called on Republicans to wage lawfare against Democrats in response to the Fulton County indictment.
“The only way this ends — and I hate to say it, but it’s true — is if Republicans return lawfare in kind,” Miller said. “That is the only way you could ever create the political conditions for a cease-fire, otherwise one side gets pulverized and it keeps getting pulverized.”
Last week, Trump lawyer Alina Habba decried “political lawfare” before the Georgia indictment had even been announced. “I’m frankly just sick of it,” she said.
Earlier this month, pro-Trump super PAC MAGA, Inc. sent an email to supporters claiming a “distinct pattern” was emerging: “Every time that Biden wrongdoing is uncovered, President Trump is targeted by Democrat lawfare.”
And as The Daily Beast noted, Trump’s indictment in special counsel Jack Smith’s election interference probe sent Fox News hosts Jesse Watters and Greg Gutfeld into a conspiratorial tailspin on Aug. 1, with Watters calling the move lawfare equivalent to “15 dozen” atomic bombs.
From The Daily Beast:








