“That’s the point. The process is the penalty, and the penalty is the process.”

The above quote is the final line of a June 18th op-ed, submitted—perhaps by only one hand—by CNN contributor Jeffrey Toobin, entitled, “For Trump, Investigations Are the Real Punishment”.

You mean, the process is the punishment?  You don’t say.  Accountability?  Ain’t it a beeyatch.  Lawfare has consequences, Jeffrey.  And not just for the victims.  Welcome to the FO part of FAFO.  Never thought he’d win, didja?  Figured he’d be sitting in the can on Riker’s Island, didntja?  Yes, you did.  We know Biden did.  (At least, according to “Original Sin”—you can read my review of the book here.)

You all did.

Toobin’s piece begins like this:

The Trump administration has declared war on a number of enemies. The tools vary, but so far the administration seems to be using the power of investigations more than criminal charges.

It might seem as if an investigation is a less punishing experience. But for the targets of those inquiries, the costs — in money, reputation, and emotional suffering — may be nearly as great as if the president and his team brought actual prosecutions.

Trump was criminally indicted and/or lawfared four times by the previous administration, Jeffrey.  The first time a former president had ever been targeted by the D.O.J. of a sitting president.  Cry me a river.  It is a lament that so many of his friends and compatriots have had to hire lawyers.  Poor dears.

Countless hundreds of J6ers were criminally indicted simply for being in The People’s House.  Countless dozens of Trump associates — to be clear, literally, simply for being associated with Trump! — were indicted, sued, lost their houses, lost their jobs, were bankrupted, had their law licenses stripped, got de-banked, and were otherwise comprehensively ruined by the relentless, Soviet-style lawfare of Democrats in positions of power.

Don’t you dare lament a little comeuppance here, especially when it’s darned well warranted.  Laws were broken.  “Norms” were busted.  All semblance of fairness was lost.  The simple fact that Jeffrey Toobin was able to type this column without bursting into flames is a wonder to me.  I think if The New York Times containing his op-ed were on my doorstep I’d regard it as a fire hazard, liable to combust spontaneously.

He writes:

Government investigators have nearly carte blanche to demand testimony and evidence… Therefore, the targets of President Trump’s investigations have had no real chance to challenge the ordeals they are facing. If the subjects of investigations want to be represented by counsel (which is always the prudent course), they themselves must pay for the lawyers.

The ability of prosecutors and other government officials to demand documents presents especially grave risks for those targeted. It’s often difficult and time-consuming to assemble a large volume of documents, and the job can be ruinously expensive when supervised, as it should be, by private lawyers. Worse, government officials can use demands for documents to bootstrap an otherwise flailing investigation into a criminal case or at least one that leads to sanctions.

This putz just described lawfare and he doesn’t even realize it.  Or maybe he does, which just means his attendant cynicism could tear a hole in the time-space continuum.

The process is punishment?  Boo-hoo, big guy. The entire piece is an exercise in breathtaking cynicism and ill-considered self-regard.  The ability of leftists to pretend not to know things should be studied.  I’d love to be able to pretend that hard.  I haven’t pretended that hard since the first Christmas I realized there was no Santa Claus.  I wanted him back.  Maybe that’s what this is:  Mr. Toobin wants the good ol’ lawfare days back, back when it wasn’t his friends and compatriots being targeted.  Alas, it is their turn to suffer, and Mr. Toobin’s lament falls on the deaf ears of millions of MAGA who know better.

Image: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons, unaltered.