The end of Biden lawfare

OPINION:

If one episode encapsulates the Biden administration’s approach to governance, it’s the perplexing controversy over drone sightings in New Jersey and other Northeastern states.

Citizens report multiple drones buzzing through the night skies, sparking anxiety and questions. Local officials are voicing alarm, while governors in New York and New Jersey demand clarity. Yet the Biden administration’s responses range from contradictory to evasive. First, those in the administration suggest the sightings aren’t drones at all, but airplanes. Then they insist there’s no danger — without offering a coherent explanation of exactly what’s happening. It’s a portrait of confusion and indecision.

Regrettably, this muddled response mirrors the administration’s broader approach to nearly every single substantive domestic and international policy issue they’ve faced over the last four years. From out-of-control federal government spending, a wide-open border, efforts to censor free speech, the haphazard military withdrawal from Afghanistan and ongoing efforts to drive up the price of energy, the White House consistently seemed over its head and, frankly, incompetent.

Thankfully, this ends on Jan. 20 at noon, when President-elect Donald Trump is sworn in. But Mr. Trump isn’t waiting until then — every action he has taken since Election Day shows he plans to hit the ground running. He has aggressively filled Cabinet positions with competent, qualified people ready to challenge the business-as-usual status quo, including former Democrats such as Robert F. Kennedy Jr. All share a vision of making America great again.

Nowhere is Mr. Trump’s vision more critical than in restoring faith in our legal system, which partisans and fanatics have hijacked.

Attorney General Merrick Garland, with Mr. Biden’s prodding, has transformed the Justice Department into a Praetorian Guard that pledged fidelity to an ideology rather than the law.

Critics were prosecuted. Grandmothers were subjects of military-style raids for misdemeanors. Peaceful protesters were sent to jail for years. The president’s son was given an unprecedented sweetheart deal that, thankfully, was rejected by a judge. Mr. Trump’s home was raided for “secret documents,” while President Biden suffered no embarrassment for placing secret documents in his garage.

Parents were termed “domestic terrorists” for speaking at school board meetings. The administration’s favorite schools, such as Harvard and Columbia, were allowed to discriminate against Jewish students without action from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division.

Things weren’t any better at the department’s Antitrust Division, which played politics with the law to help Mr. Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris’ election prospects.

For example, according to The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board, the Antitrust Division filed a suit against RealPage — the software company homeowners use to help price their properties — to “distract voters from frustration over the Biden Administration’s inflationary policies.”

Vice President-elect J.D. Vance’s senior adviser Andrew Surabian said, “This suit attracted the attention of senior Trump campaign staffers for being a transparently obnoxious case of politically motivated lawfare.”

Indeed. The Justice Department willfully ignored that the government employs the same technology to price tolls and set public transit prices, all so Ms. Harris could blame someone else for the inflation she and her boss caused.

Under this form of ideology, the ends justify the means. Mr. Trump, by contrast, has already offered a clear and much-needed departure from the chaos and dysfunction that have defined the last four years.

He has nominated Pam Bondi and Gail Slater to serve in the Justice Department — two people with a long and strong history of taking on predatory big companies while also advocating against the political weaponization of the legal system.

Last week, he also nominated Andrew Ferguson to chair the Federal Trade Commission. According to Mr. Trump, Mr. Ferguson has an equally admirable record of fighting Big Tech and for law and order.

Mr. Trump’s return to the presidency represents a fresh opportunity to restore competence, consistency, fairness in governance and the rule of law — values sorely lacking under Mr. Biden.

This is great news because the weaponization of our government is the biggest threat to our liberties.

Mr. Trump understands Americans deserve a government that works for them, not against them. That means respecting taxpayers, fostering economic growth through innovation and free markets and ensuring equal justice under the law for every citizen. His swift moves to assemble a qualified and results-driven team signal that he is prepared to deliver on these promises from day one. The challenges ahead are significant, but so are the opportunities.

With Mr. Trump’s leadership, we can — and will — make America great again.

• Matt Gaetz is a former congressman from Florida who served on the House Judiciary Committee, including the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government and the Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law.