The Justice Department’s “Weaponization Working Group” is the fruit of a yearslong right-wing effort to portray federal law enforcement against Trump and his allies as criminal in nature. But if that task force fails to bring charges against Trump’s purported enemies, its head, the right-wing activist Ed Martin, is promising to publicly “name” and “shame” those individuals — a clear violation of longstanding DOJ policy which would provide chum for MAGA media while turning its targets into hate objects. 

As Media Matters’ Matt Gertz writes: “Martin’s proposal to ‘name’ and ‘shame’ rather than prosecute Trump’s foes seems on the one hand like a significant retreat — a sign that he doesn’t think that the purported crimes he and his colleagues happily detailed in their books, podcasts, and Fox shows can pass muster with a federal judge.” 

And yet, Martin’s “name” and “shame” strategy amounts to a public declaration from the federal government that the targets of otherwise unsuccessful investigations are nonetheless Bad People. It’s a very disturbing innovation for the Trump administration, and I invite you to learn more about it here.