Even Worse Than We Imagined

Today’s revelations about the Jack Smith lawfare operation are even worse than we imagined. They confirm that lawfare cannot be fought case by case, defendant by defendant, after the machinery is already in motion. It has to be confronted institutionally, strategically, and…

— Hans Mahncke (@HansMahncke) September 29, 2026

… across the entire battlefield.

Russiagate remains the quintessential lawfare operation because it was the first time all of the elements came together at once: an effort to reverse the democratic outcome, a totally fabricated narrative, politically aligned nonprofit organizations, the weaponization of government power and authority, media collusion, and the targeting not only of President Trump but of his associates, people only loosely connected to him, and anyone else who could be dragged into the operation.

But the Jack Smith lawfare operation was, in many ways, far worse because it took all of those elements and multiplied them. It was vastly more sweeping, involved far more people, reached beyond associates or even loosely connected figures to ordinary Americans, invoked far more criminal laws, and involved abuses of government power on a vastly greater scale.

They will try again, and next time they will be even less constrained. We have a very small window now to build the institutions, research infrastructure, strategic framework, and legal capacity needed to ensure they never again get another free run like this.