Joe Everyman is outraged. Again.
He watches the news and hears that federal indictments against James Comey and Letitia James have been dismissed “without prejudice” by a federal judge — not because the evidence was declared bogus, not because they were proven innocent, but because of procedural issues and the judge’s discomfort with the fact that Trump had publicly demanded their prosecution on social media.
And today James is crowing about her “victory” for these “baseless” charges. Excuse me but don’t they have the docs that prove she lied on mortgage applications to get better rates? What a joke this whole thing is?
To Joe, it sounds like this:
“Sorry, folks, wrong technicality. Come back never.
Also, how dare Trump say out loud what half the country is thinking.”
The judge reportedly notes Trump’s Truth Social posts calling out Comey, Letitia James, Adam Schiff, and others — and suggests that because the president wanted indictments, the whole thing smells like “weaponization” and must be tossed.
Joe Everyman’s reaction?
“So what? Since when does a rant on social media erase actual alleged crimes?”
From his bunker recliner, it feels like the same old story:
- Trump enemies: endless procedural shields, “too political,” “weaponization against us,” cases evaporate.
- Trump: novel legal theories, resurrected misdemeanors, and felony Frankenstein charges.
And then the ruling class wonders why we’re hovering on the edge of civil war.
The Procedural Escape Hatch
Joe doesn’t pretend to be a constitutional lawyer. But he can smell gamesmanship a mile away.
He hears talk about 28 U.S.C. § 546 — the federal statute that governs how interim U.S. attorneys are appointed:
- The president can appoint an interim U.S. attorney for 120 days while waiting for Senate confirmation of a replacement.
- After that clock runs out, the district court is supposed to appoint the acting U.S. attorney.
- In this case (as Joe hears it told), the 120-day window had already been used, and the paperwork wasn’t clean when the indictments were rushed out the door.
To Joe, it sounds like this:
“The appointment clock ran out, the statute says ‘time’s up,’
so defense attorneys pounced and the judge tossed everything.” Who dropped the ball on the governments side? Did they not know this was in play? Or did they do it on purpose to sabotage the cases against them?
And just to make sure the message is clear, the judge also flags that the indictment followed shortly after Trump’s public complaint:
“What about Comey, Adam ‘Shifty’ Schiff, Letitia??? They’re all guilty as hell, but nothing is going to be done.”
From Joe’s point of view, that’s not a scandal — that’s just the first honest thing a president has said in years. They can call Trump a Nazi, a fascist, a dictator, a convicted felon, a pedophile, a king, and just because he voices his desire to see them prosecuted on social media the whole thing is dismissed? That’s the kind of thing that makes us conservatives so outraged and ready for battle. When is it going to our turn to see justice done?
Yet that becomes part of why the case dies.
Lawfare for Thee, Due Process for Me
Here’s the part that cooks Joe’s grits:
- When Letitia James went after Trump in New York with sweeping fraud claims and aggressive legal theories, due process for Trump looked like an afterthought.
- When Alvin Bragg revived an old misdemeanor and mutated it into a multi-count felony indictment, plenty of legal experts across the spectrum called it lawfare — yet the case went forward and Trump was found guilty of multiple felonies.
- Meanwhile, when the legal guns briefly point the other way toward Comey or Letitia James, suddenly the talk is all:
- “Weaponization!”
- “Improper pressure from the president!”
- “Procedural flaws!”
- “This must not stand!”
So Joe sees this pattern:
- When Trump is the target:
- Highly creative charges = “brave accountability.”
- Public hostility toward him = “understandable political context.”
- Novel legal stretch jobs = “justice catching up.”
- When Trump’s antagonists are the target:
- Technical defects = disqualifying.
- Trump’s public anger = poison that taints everything.
- Indictments = “lawfare,” “revenge,” “dangerous precedent.”
In other words:
What’s good for the goose sure as hell ain’t good for the gander
when the goose is a Democrat and the gander wears a red tie.
Too Big to Fail: Political Edition
Joe Everyman remembers the original “too big to fail” scam:
- Wall Street wrecks the economy.
- People lose homes, jobs, and savings.
- The big boys get bailed out while Main Street eats the consequences.
Now he’s watching “too big to fail – political edition”:
- Powerful prosecutors and political insiders can allegedly bend or break rules, then fall backward into procedural pillows and legal escape hatches.
- Meanwhile, Trump gets sandblasted with every creative legal theory available, and we’re told to clap like trained seals because “no one is above the law.”
Joe’s question is simple:
“If no one is above the law, how come these same people
keep waltzing away on technicalities while the rest of us
would be under the jail for half of what they do?”
He’s heard the allegations:
- That Letitia James, in Joe’s view, appears to have engaged in mortgage shenanigans that would have nailed any ordinary citizen.
- That Comey helped drive a Russia-collusion narrative that turned out far shakier than advertised, costing taxpayers millions and hanging over Trump’s entire first term.
Whatever the legal fine print, the impression for Joe is crystal clear:
“If you’re part of the right club, American justice is a maze of exits.
If you’re not, it’s a meat grinder.”
And every time a case dies “without prejudice” for reasons that sound like calendar math and social-media etiquette instead of guilt vs. innocence, Joe’s faith in the system drops another notch.
Lawfare as a War of Attrition
If we’re going to call this era “lawfare,” Joe says let’s be honest:
- It’s not single, clean battles between good guys and bad guys.
- It’s a war of attrition, where each side tries to drown the other in indictments, subpoenas, leaks, and legal bills.
When cases against Trump’s enemies are dismissed on timing and technicalities, while cases against Trump rely on novel legal theories, the message Joe hears is:
“This isn’t about truth.
It’s about who controls the process.”
And that loops us right back to the Civil War Warning Index:
- Step 1 – Loss of civic trust
- Step 5 – Loss of neutral rule of law
You can’t convince Joe Everyman that the law is neutral when:
- Cases against Trump’s antagonists die for reasons that sound like paperwork trivia.
- Cases against Trump plow ahead on legal theories even some experts on the Left call raw weaponization.
“It’s All Bullshit, Folks”
George Carlin said it:
“It’s all bullshit, folks.
And it’s bad for ya.”
Joe Everyman would love to believe this time is different — that Comey, Letitia James, and the rest might finally have to answer hard questions in a real courtroom.
Instead, he hears:
- “Dismissed without prejudice.”
- “Procedural defects.”
- “Improper pressure from Trump’s posts.”
And once again, there’s no verdict on guilt or innocence. Just another shrug:
“Oh well. That’s politics as usual.”
Joe doesn’t want a show trial.
He wants one standard.
Real due process, for everyone:
- Trump gets the same protections as James and Comey.
- James and Comey face the same scrutiny as Trump.
- Novel stretch-job theories are either acceptable for both sides — or for neither.
Until that happens, Joe Everyman sees two justice systems:
- One for people whose friends run the game.
- One for everyone else.
And that, in his eyes, is exactly why America’s temper is running hot, the country’s splitting into two realities, and we’re spending a little too much time near Step 5 on the Civil War Warning Index.
Because once people decide the law is just another political weapon, there’s only so many times you can say “time’s up” on indictments before somebody, somewhere, decides they’re done waiting on justice at all.
The DOJ is saying they will appeal the dismissals and hold them accountable but don’t hold your breath, these slippery snakes have more ways to outfox the government.