For years, Democrats wrapped themselves in the sacred flag of democracy while weaponizing the Department of Justice against President Trump and his allies, justifying every prosecutorial overreach as necessary to “save democracy.” Now that Trump is back in office, these same champions of justice are suddenly crying foul, claiming that prosecuting Democrats for their actual crimes would somehow be an attack on democracy itself.
The Morning Joe crew perfectly exemplified this breathtaking double standard on Thursday when Joe Scarborough questioned whether the new U.S. attorney would dare pursue a case against James Comey, who allegedly lied to Congress. It was as if the very idea of holding a Democrat accountable for breaking the law was somehow beyond the pale. This is the same show that cheered every indictment, every raid, every legal maneuver against Trump and his team as a win for democracy.
Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) took the pearl-clutching even further, painting the Trump administration’s potential prosecutions as part of some grand harassment campaign designed to silence opposition. Murphy warned that Trump wants to “harass his enemies to the point where a lot of people decide to just stand down.” He also expressed deep concern about the chilling effect this might have on corporate America and Democratic donors, who might retreat from politics to avoid becoming targets.
“A lot of folks who used to play in politics have decided to just step back because they don’t want to be in Trump’s crosshairs,” Murphy claimed. “Sure, the point here is to get a few of his political adversaries in jail, but the real point… is a tried and true tactic of despotism all over the country, all over the world, which is to just harass and intimidate their political opposition so that people decide to stay indoors, protestors don’t show up, candidates don’t run. That’s how democracies die.”
This is rich coming from someone who had no problem watching the Biden administration systematically target Trump’s inner circle. Peter Navarro became the first White House official in history to be jailed for contempt of Congress, serving four months behind bars. Steve Bannon faced his own contempt charges and prosecution. The list of Trump allies the Biden administration targeted goes on, including figures like Tom Homan, Charlie Kirk, Rudy Giuliani, Sidney Powell, Stephen Miller, and Roger Stone.
But that was okay. Targeting Republicans under false pretenses doesn’t bother Democrats, but when one of their own breaks the law, apparently, we’re supposed to let it slide because “our democracy” depends on putting Republicans in prison under false charges, but letting Democrats commit crimes with impunity.
Chris Murphy is suddenly opposed to the idea of political opponents being prosecuted and how the process might harass and financially ruin them.
— Western Lensman (@WesternLensman) September 25, 2025
This was their lawfare playbook for four years.
They want to pretend 2021-2024 never happened.
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Where were the warnings about despotism and the death of democracy when Joe Biden was openly trying to lock up his political opponents? They didn’t come from the left; they came from the right, from those of us who spent four years wondering if we’d be next in Biden’s police state. And make no mistake, we all were targets. Biden declared Trump and his supporters a “clear and present danger” to the country. Every last one of us was under threat. Yet Democrats cheered it on.
For years, they wielded “democracy” as a cudgel while turning the justice system into a political weapon against anyone who dared to stand with Trump. Now they demand immunity for the actual crime they committed and accuse Trump of following their own playbook. If Democrats can’t face accountability when they break the law, then the rule of law means nothing, and our Republic cannot survive on double standards.
