I don’t know if Lemon actually committed all those different acts that would be needed to treat him as a criminal and not just someone documenting the incident as a journalist. But what I will say is that the Trump DOJ is absolutely selective in where they spend taxpayer resources (the DOJ’s people and time), who they defend, and who they attack.

It’s odd to raid the Washington Post journalist, arrest several people who are documenting ICE activities in Minneapolis, and then arrest Lemon as well, while doing nothing about the trend of right-wing provocateurs harassing minorities and daycare centers. And doing nothing about ICE agents executing people in the streets. Or ICE agents detaining US citizens and letting them go later without any explanation or justice. Or warrantless home invasions.

The way in which the new GOP under Trump had turned the government into a one-sided weapon is unprecedented. It’s weird to think just a year ago, they were all complaining about the trend of rising lawfare, only to become the absolute worst version of it themselves.