During Donald Trump’s lengthy White House press conference this week, he did something he usually does not do: He responded to allegations that he’s weaponizing the federal government against his perceived political foes.

While reflecting on how impressed he is with his record from 2025, the president began by boasting that he “ended Joe Biden’s weaponization of our government” — a conspiracy theory rooted in baseless claims for which there is no evidence — before expressing incredulity about the frequency with which he’s been accused of doing the very thing he’s falsely accused his predecessor of doing.

“If I suggest that somebody may be guilty of a terrible crime, ‘Oh, he’s weaponizing government. Trump is weaponizing government. It’s terrible,’” the Republican said, referring to himself in the third person. “Can you imagine? They say to me about ‘weaponize’ — I don’t weaponize anything. But what they did to me, nobody ever went through what I went through.”

Trump might find this difficult to believe, but what he “went through” was similar to — and by most measures, vastly easier than — what countless accused felons go through in the U.S. criminal justice system every day.

Nevertheless, roughly 48 hours after making those comments, the president published an item to his social media platform in which he called on Attorney General Pam Bondi to go after former special counsel Jack Smith. After the prosecutor’s closely watched testimony on Capitol Hill wrapped up, Trump wrote a follow-up item:

Based on his testimony today, there is no question that Deranged Jack Smith should be prosecuted for his actions. He destroyed the lives of many innocent people, which has been his history as a prosecutor. At a minimum, he committed large scale perjury!

None of his accusations was rooted in reality, but that didn’t stop Trump from publishing yet another post two hours later, demanding an investigation into Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota and accusing her of unidentified “Financial and Political Crimes.”

So, let’s review. The president finds it preposterous that he would be accused of trying to weaponize government. He simply believes that he can direct the Justice Department that he controls to prosecute members of his enemies list — preferably quickly — without regard for evidence or legal merits, to quench his thirst for petty political retribution.

Who said anything about “weaponization”?