Staff Reports
Democratic Rep. Hank Johnson of Georgia recently found a way to combine his love for ludicrous hypotheticals with his favorite pastime: criticizing President Trump. During a House Judiciary Committee hearing, Johnson raised the eyebrow-raising notion of U.S. Marshals hauling Trump off to jail for “contempt” related to his new brainchild, the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. Yes, it sounds innocuous, but it’s simply a rebranding effort of the U.S. Digital Service, a digital bureaucracy whose purpose seems as clear as muddy water.
Johnson’s probing question to Circuit Judge Timothy Tymkovich of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit eerily echoed a bad courtroom drama. He wanted to know if a president could be snatched away by U.S. Marshals if he ignored a court ruling. Naturally, the judge kept his response diplomatic and focused on the dire shortage of judges, likely wishing he could magically transform into one of those marshals himself to escape the madness unfolding before him.
If you can not see how dirty the Democrats fight, you are not paying attention. They will lie, cheat, and steal to get their way.
Democrat Hank Johnson speaks about the possibility of sending the US Marshals to arrest President Trump if he does not listen to these rogue judges'… pic.twitter.com/VcsesKQxKA— Sadie (@Sadie_NC) February 25, 2025
In typical Johnson fashion, his comments meandered from abstract legal inquiry to a bizarre contemplation about the state of democracy if marshals refused to execute a hypothetical contempt order. It was a tad reminiscent of a lost episode from “The Twilight Zone,” exploring the absurdity of government processes through a lens only Johnson could muster. Perhaps he thought tossing around legal jargon would create a smokescreen for the fact that he may have had a hard time keeping track of reality—much like the time he posited that Guam might capsize under the weight of military personnel.
The irony of his latest rant is hard to miss. While Democrats love to preach about upholding democracy and the rule of law, here was Johnson, entertaining the thought of using federal law enforcement to target a political rival. After all, it was just last year that Trump established DOGE through an executive order, making it the latest target of various legal challenges from government employee unions and Democratic state attorneys general. The mere suggestion of jailing a former president based on imagined legal missteps would likely have made legal scholars roll their eyes so hard they could see their brains.
As if conjuring dark images of a political witch hunt, Johnson’s antics did little to add substance to the debate on judicial capacity, which was the actual reason the court hearing was convened. Instead, he favored theatrics and overreaching hypotheticals. Rather than focusing on the root issue—how to fill the void of vacant judgeships—Johnson turned it into a spectacle all his own. It seems that rather than discussing practical solutions, Democrats would rather engage in a circus of political posturing that distracts from the pressing needs of the justice system. At this point, it’s hard to tell who’s really holding democracy hostage.
