Even dictatorships have judges.

Which doesn't mean they have justice.

Democrats appear ever-more enamored with "lawfare" — a term that hardly existed before Donald Trump was elected president in 2016 — as they try to keep Trump from returning to the White House.

Left-wing politicians, prosecutors, and lawyers may be sincere when they say they believe Trump is an existential threat to democracy who must be stopped by any means necessary.

But they would be wise not to become what they fear.

The Democratic effort to twist the legal system has accelerated in the last few months.

Trump and his most ardent supporters now face an unrelenting flow of civil and criminal cases, some of which at best stretch legal theories to their limits. But judges in blue cities and states have been notably reluctant to push back on them.

Meanwhile, as I wrote yesterday, the Biden White House has now openly encouraged its operatives to defy Congressional subpoenas by promising them carte blanche to do so - even as the Justice Department tries to jail Trump's advisors for similar moves.

The issue stretches far beyond the four flagship criminal cases and 91 charges that Trump faces. In those, at least, he has the protections that criminal law gives defendants, and the financial resources to use them.

The Associated Press estimated that Trump has spent $77 million in the last two years defending himself. Even bigger expenses lie ahead as his criminal trials approach.