"The Art of War" & "The Art of Lawfare"

Getting the drop on an adversarial judiciary ...

Born circa 500 B.C., Sun Tzu was a Chinese military strategist and philosopher whose thinking was distilled into THE book The Art of War.

Some 2500 years later, that book is a staple text not only in military war colleges across the globe, but the business world as well. That says much.

Many observers have opined that President Trump has an uncanny ability to see ahead, and remain one step ahead of his adversaries. Whether a result of having read Sun Tzu, or some innate ability to analyze and strategize similarly, or both – one finds Art of War parallels with Trump’s navigation of the political (and now judicial) battlefield.

Even before the 2024 election, there were reports that the Progressive Left (but I repeat myself) was preparing a lawfare campaign for immediate deployment if Donald Trump was successful in his re-election bid. The intent was (and remains) to hobble the newly elected Administration. (So much for respecting “our Democracy.”)

We need not here recount in detail the lawfare that is now rampant, with “judge shopped” federal district court judges across the country issuing an unprecedented, off-the-scale tsunami of nationwide injunctions blocking near everything coming from the Trump administration.

And (so far) a Supreme Court engaged in collusive inaction regarding same.

(The massive degradation of standards and ethics within the law schools, the bar, and more critically, the judiciary – i.e., its Cultural Marxist “fundamental transformation” into political activists instead of impartial jurists – being an apt topic for another day.)

Here we begin incorporating selected quotes from Sun Tzu, accompanied by comments that illustrate how those same principles are being employed by President Trump and the MAGA coalition …

Victory comes from finding opportunities in problems. – Sun Tzu

Up until now, the Trump response to the deluge of lawfare, through the Bondi DOJ, has been a seemingly workmanlike, yet defensive-posture conventional response through that (seemingly ever more) compromised federal judicial system.

This is fighting on the bad guys’ chosen turf. Yet this “conventional” response, Sun Tzu-like, may be by design. Keep reading …

The Progressive Left still controls the legacy “news” media, academia, the entertainment industry and seemingly innumerable “non-profit” foundations and NGO’s – and those still possess massive power and influence (albeit weakening, thank God).

They have a lawfare infrastructure that has been built up for decades, from the Stalinist-rooted ACLU to Norm Eisen’s latest operation, “State Democracy Defenders” (that is, when he’s not cavorting with Chief Justice Roberts). And, of course, Marc Elias is still out there.

Those lawfare groups are currently enjoying tremendous success roadblocking the Trump administration, courtesy of rogue federal judges. So, what might Sun Tzu recommend now?

Hold out baits to entice the enemy. Feign disorder, and crush him. – Sun Tzu

Disrupt their comfort in their success, their confidence in victory — successes that you’ve allowed to play out, enticing them to reveal their forces (e.g., within the federal judiciary) and expend their ammunition (so to speak) — only then responding with the unconventional.

Such as an offensive maneuver from an oblique angle; one which the adversaries did not expect, and for which they were not prepared.

In conflict, straightforward actions generally lead to engagement, surprising actions generally lead to victory. – Sun Tzu

Which brings us to last week’s arrest of two state court judges (DOJ press release here).

By oblique attack, the Trump DOJ has arrested not one, but two rogue state court judges.

This has prompted joy within MAGA nation, and concurrent outrage by the usual suspects in Progressive-land: Democrat politicians, MSNBC and so on. They’re all suffering from the vapors, even as they attempt to countermove with declarations of Trump being “above the law” and “threatening our Democracy” and flinging the word “Fascism” about like anti-aircraft chaff.

They’re scared, but trying to hide it with false bravado. The “Q” phrase “the hunters [will] become the hunted” comes to mind.

Those state judges are, in the great scheme of things, small fish.

BUT, THOSE ARRESTS ARE MORE SIGNIFICANT THAN GENERALLY RECOGNIZED.

The height of strategy, is to attack your opponent's strategy. – Sun Tzu

For the Trump DOJ just signaled that there’s no longer de facto immunity for judges who themselves don’t abide by federal law. Are the lawfare hunters becoming the hunted?

If you are a federal judge who, say, has been engaged in ex parte communication, much less coordination, with the forces of lawfare – if not directly, through using family members as intermediaries – suddenly, you’re probably not sleeping so well.

And, finding yourself in a hole, you likely are not going to be inclined to keep digging.

Similarly, if you’re on the lawfare plaintiffs’ side of the bar, now appearing before (shall we say) no longer enthusiastic judges, you may not be sleeping so well either. I

ndeed, you might start having nightmares about some of those federal judges negotiating plea deals to, e.g., resign with their pensions intact, in return for agreeing to testify against you.

That all might destroy the willingness to continue engaging in lawfare, no?

One need not destroy one's enemy. One need only destroy his willingness to engage. – Sun Tzu

There has been much angst in MAGA Nation regarding, e.g., the (as yet) non-occurrence of criminal prosecutions for those responsible for RussiaGate; the stolen election of 2020; J6 and the fabricated “insurrection” (and accompanying abuse of legal process, and outright persecution, of J6’ers); Covid and the so-called vaccines; non-meritorious impeachments. And so much more.

Such as the intentional invasion of our border, and distribution of illegal aliens (and criminals and terrorists) throughout the nation.

Similarly, the (as yet) “failure” to release the Epstein client list, and prosecutions of same.

Hence that general is skillful in attack whose opponent does not know what to defend; and he is skillful in defense whose opponent does not know what to attack. – Sun Tzu

The Trump administration has signaled that it will “go there” with judges. But not necessarily in the ways anticipated, such as the expected move to pursue impeachment proceedings in Congress (which would just be spun as “retribution” and “anti-democratic” and “Fascist”).

Similarly, the totality of incriminating evidence obtained by Elon Musk and DOGE (even just so far) is not public, but presumably in the possession of the Bondi DOJ and its Patel FBI subsidiary.

It is safe to say that the bad guys probably never saw DOGE coming. Another “oblique” maneuver.

Suddenly, several categories of Deep Staters and others within D.C. – Democrat and Republican politicians; the bowels of the infrastructure (NGO’s, etc.) – don’t know what to defend, or where the attacks (prosecutions) will first strike. Epstein related 2020 related? And so on.

At the same time, many have closeted skeletons in multiple of those categories.

So, the so-far “lack of action” or “lack of prosecutions” or “lack of releases” may well be intentional – and tactical.

For at present, all of the bad guys have to sweat.

Inevitably, some of them will start folding (and turning on each other) by, e.g., proactively approaching the Bondi DOJ seeking plea deals in return for producing evidence, and testimony.

Thus, God willing, the Deep State dominoes will begin to fall.

We can’t know if President Trump and his folks consult The Art of War. BUT we can glean that their actions certainly rhyme.

Perhaps, 2500 years from now, folks will be reading about how President Trump out-strategized a superior force of evil, and — despite being in a desperate position, multiple times — saved our Constitutional Republic.

In desperate position, you must fight. – Sun Tzu

Or is that: “In a desperate position, you must FIGHT! FIGHT! FIGHT!”