National Review’s Andrew McCarthy, a former federal prosecutor, has a series of articles addressing the newly formed “Weaponization Working Group” and its role in several Department of Justice (DOJ) actions since President Donald Trump took office.

McCarthy first recaps his objections to the DOJ dropping its corruption case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams. As overtly political as that move was, there are other instances — like going after Alvin Bragg, Letitia James, and Jack Smith. For these latter three, it seems that these cases are turning into Trump’s version of lawfare against those who entangled him in the same politically charged turmoil.

The problem is that newly appointed Attorney General Pam Bondi seems to be taking Trump’s directive against weaponizing the government by … weaponizing the government. What is the purpose of the DOJ? To prosecute crimes, not to target specific people and hope something crops up to nail them.

Of course, Trump has been the perpetual victim of egregious political targeting and lawfare via the Biden administration and congressional and deep state Democrats before that. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s hush-money case should never have been brought to trial. New York Attorney General Letitia James’s civil fraud lawfare should not have been prosecuted. Special Counsel Jack Smith’s classified documents case probably had some legs to it, but the Democrats took the wind out of that particular case’s sails by excusing both former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former Vice President Joe Biden of similar crimes (their offenses were much more serious because they didn’t even have the cover of presidential declassification powers).

The Democrats under Biden used the Department of Justice in an inappropriate manner to target political opponents, particularly Trump. They paid for it at the ballot box. The American people saw this as an injustice when it was happening to Trump.

Turnabout might be fair play, but is it the smartest move politically? The American people want corruption out of the government.

It really is something to weigh deeply: Now that the shoe is on the other foot, does that change the calculus? Does it justify the use of such action against Trump’s political persecutors?

As McCarthy points out at the end of his fourth article, there are better ways to accomplish what Trump is trying to do through the DOJ, and that is by using his own privately hired lawyers who are not part of the government to go about seeking justice in the cases against him.

Having a Republican president who is willing to get his hands dirty and play the same games as the Democrats is at times very good. Republicans in the past have often been hesitant to do so because they held themselves to the moral high ground. Trump once again is breaking with traditional Republican notions, but in this case, it’s not one that should be rationalized by our side. Trump is at his best when he is fighting for the American people. He is at his worst when taking petty shots at his enemies or pursuing personal vendettas. The American people need him to focus on us and restore the Department of Justice to what it was always supposed to be.