Donald Trump has always used the court system as a weapon. He has filed thousands of lawsuits in his lifetime, and defended himself against plenty of lawsuits filed against him too. He knows full well how to wage what is now referred to as "lawfare," which is defined as: "the use of the courts and legal system as warfare." And when running for his second term in office, he would routinely promise "retribution" against his enemies. So it is no surprise that his underlings keep attempting to do just that.

So far -- thankfully -- their track record has been pretty dismal. Cases brought for the flimsiest legal rationales have been laughed out of court by several judges. The Trump Justice Department is so pathetically and blatantly obvious about what they are doing that it becomes quite easy to throw these cases out of court on the grounds that they are nothing more than legal harassment of people Trump doesn't like (Trump himself makes his position worse by all his vengeful social media posting, which makes it all the easier to chuck these cases out of court). Those the ones that even make it into court, since there has also been a string of grand juries who refuse to indict Trump's enemies on flimsy charges (which is a stunning thing, since it is normally so easy to get grand juries to indict).

Despite all this pushback and rejection, the Justice Department keeps right on coming up with laughably ridiculous cases against people who have annoyed Trump in some way. Today brought the news of the most recent -- an indictment against James Comey, for posting a picture of some seashells on a beach. This is the level of ridiculousness that the Justice Department has now sunk to, folks.

The photo in question showed seashells which had been arranged on the sand to spell out the numbers: 86 47. Comey posted it because it is funny -- a hidden message for those who know 1930s slang. Originally used by soda jerks (and then picked up by other restaurants and bars), the term "86" started as: "we're out of that item." Walter Winchell wrote about soda jerk slang in an article in a New Jersey newspaper in 1933: "'Eighty-six' means all out of it." Merriam-Webster explains the origins of the term:

Eighty-six is slang meaning "to throw out," "to get rid of," or "to refuse service to." It comes from 1930s soda-counter slang meaning that an item was sold out. There is varying anecdotal evidence about why the term eighty-six was used, but the most common theory is that it is rhyming slang for nix.

They note that the term's usage shifted over time:

In the 1950s the word underwent some functional shift, and began to be used as a verb. The initial meaning as a verb was "to refuse to serve a customer," and later took on the slightly extended meaning of "to get rid of; to throw out." The word was especially used in reference to refusing further bar service to inebriates.

And finally:

Among the most recent senses adopted is a logical extension of the previous ones, with the meaning of "to kill."

They note that this sense is relatively recent and used only sparsely.

So the hidden message the seashells was conveying is to "86" the 47th U.S. president, Donald Trump. Since it is only four numbers, there is no explanation of how the term "86" is being used here. The Justice Department leapt to the farfetched conclusion that Comey was not only saying "kill Trump," but he was actually urging someone else to actually do so -- he was making an active threat to the president. And they just got a federal grand jury to indict him, charging that Comey:

...did knowingly and willfully make a threat to take the life of, and to inflict bodily harm upon, the President of the United States, in that he publicly posted a photograph on the internet social media site Instagram which depicted seashells arranged in a pattern making out "86 47", which a reasonable recipient who is familiar with the circumstances would interpret as a serious expression of an intent to do harm to the President of the United States.

This is absolute balderdash, of course. Comey posted the photo with the caption: "Cool shell formation on my beach walk." His intent was pretty obviously along the lines of: "Hey, this is pretty funny, right?" But now he's being charged with making a threat to assassinate Donald Trump.

As we all saw this weekend, Donald Trump has indeed been the target of assassination attempts. Which is a very serious thing. But Comey's social media post simply does not rise to that level at all. In fact, if the bar for such prosecutions truly is this low, then Donald Trump himself should be facing similar charges, since he has posted dozens (if not hundreds) of threats against others online -- usually accusing them of "treason" and calling for the death penalty (Trump seems to define "treason" as: "saying mean or negative things about me").

Democrats, of course, are denouncing this latest legal tantrum by Trump:

Senator Richard J. Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, denounced the case as a sign that the Justice Department's leaders were "desperate to continue to appease Donald Trump by appealing to his worst instincts and need for petty retribution."

"Just like the last baseless indictment against Mr. Comey, this is another case of a weaponized Justice Department lashing out on behalf of a vengeful president," he added.

He's right. Donald Trump sees the Justice Department as his own personal legal firm that has the power to charge people criminally, and he thinks he should be able to use it to harass his enemies. So far, this hasn't worked out all that great, since none of his quests for vengeance has resulted in any actual convictions in a court of law.

What really might be going on here is that Trump probably threw a hissy fit after Senator Thom Tillis -- a fellow Republican -- forced him to back down from his investigation of Fed Chair Jerome Powell. Tillis swore he would not vote to advance any Fed nominee until this investigation was closed, which ultimately forced Trump to back down. Just in the past week the Justice Department reluctantly announced they had closed their investigation of Powell, which probably enraged Trump. The indictment of Comey (on this ridiculous charge) was almost certainly meant to appease Trump.

Consider the fact that this isn't even the first time the term has been used about Trump in a public manner. Wikipedia notes that:

In October of 2020, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer appeared from her home on the television show Meet The Press, displaying a small pin in the background featuring the numbers "86 45".

Whitmer was not investigated or indicted for any sort of crime for doing so, even though her message doubtlessly reached a lot more people than Comey's initially did. The selective nature of this case is pretty obvious -- Comey annoyed Trump more than Whitmer ever did, plain and simple.

I still have some faith in the judicial system, which means I think that it is only a matter of time before either the judge or a jury laughs the case against Comey right out of court. To prove guilt would mean the prosecutors would have to prove his intent -- which just isn't going to happen. Comey deleted his post almost immediately, and posted instead a statement saying he thought it had a political meaning and that he "didn't realize some folks associate those numbers with violence." The Secret Service interviewed him at the time (twice), and he maintained that he had no intent to cause the president harm. The term "86" does not have a single unequivocal meaning, and is thus open to interpretation. All of which means this case will fail, one way or another.

But it really never should have been brought in the first place. The Justice Department is not supposed to be an instrument of vengeance for a president with the emotional maturity of a toddler throwing a tantrum. It was never meant to be packed with sycophants of the president, it is supposed to have level-headed lawyers who are committed to following the U.S. Constitution and the law, not the whims of an unhinged president. If that were still true, this nonsense would never have reached this level. It would have been 86-ed before it ever got to this point.

-- Chris Weigant

Follow Chris on Twitter: @ChrisWeigant