By Joel Gilbert
“Cannon fodder” is a term used to describe combatants thought to be expendable. Those who send “cannon fodder” into battle have little regard for their well-being. A high casualty rate they see as the price to pay for accomplishing some strategic goal, in the case in question, the removal of Donald Trump from the battlefield.
The question needs to be asked, why did Democrat strategists push Black officials into the forefront of their lawfare campaign against Donald Trump? With the exception of Special Counsel Jack Smith, nearly every high-profile prosecution was spearheaded by Black attorneys, judges, and committee chairs like Letitia James, Alvin Bragg, Fani Willis, Tanya Chutkan, and Bennie Thompson. They became the public face of the campaign to “get Trump,” even as they bore the personal and professional risks of failure.
Make no mistake, Democrats intentionally used Black prosecutors because of their race. On the most basic level, Black prosecutors would have a stronger pull over Black jurors and White liberal jurors as well.
More critically, if these cases were criticized, party leaders could circle back with their common anti-Trump narrative and claim that the pushback was due to racism. The media would relish this narrative. As the election approached, this tactic would strengthen the bond between the Black community and the Democrats even if the cases against Trump should fail.
From a strategic perspective, Democrat party leaders believed the Trump prosecutions offered multiple advantages. Each indictment created headlines, keeping Trump’s alleged misconduct front and center while burying his policy arguments. They thought the prosecutions reinforced their portrayal of Trump as lawless, a framing that reenforced Joe Biden’s messaging about Trump being unfit for office and “a threat to democracy.”
That said, each prosecution was something of a trial ballon, floating novel legal theories on insurance fraud, campaign finance violations, racketeering, and federal obstruction. Democrats had to know how flimsy were their cases, and how vulnerable the prosecutors. They just did not seem to care.
Enter James, Bragg, Willis, Chutkan, and Thompson. These Black figures were thrust into the spotlight not merely as lawyers or investigators, but as political symbols. Democratic leaders surely understood the likely outcome, that these individuals would be intensely scrutinized, harassed, and possibly discredited if the prosecutions faltered. But from the perspective of the party’s political calculus, these Black figures were acceptable casualties.
New York A.G. Letitia James brought a high-profile civil fraud suit alleging decades-long asset overvaluation by Trump and his company. In August 2025, an appellate court overturned the $500M fine, calling it excessive under the Eighth Amendment. Following my reporting in The Gateway Pundit on James’s decades of mortgage fraud activities, she has come under investigation by Special Prosecutor Ed Martin and could face jail time if convicted. Martin has asked James’s attorney Abbe Lowell for her resignation.
As Fulton County D.A., Fani Willis led the Georgia racketeering and election interference case charging Trump and his allies under a RICO statue. In December 2024, the Georgia Court of Appeals disqualified her and her office stemming from her relationship with special prosecutor Nathan Wade. Additionally, she faced orders to pay thousands in attorneys’ fees over Open Records Act violations.
Manhattan D.A. Alvin Bragg made history as the first prosecutor to indict a former president, filing 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. But critics slammed the case as legally ridiculous and politically motivated. His office endured internal resignations, and while the conviction stands for now, the case is on appeal. Bragg’s reputation has been battered regardless of the outcome.
Federal investigations by the January 6th Committee were chaired by Rep. Bennie Thompson. The committee played a pivotal role in shaping the Democrats January 6 anti-Trump narrative and laying groundwork for federal indictments. However, Thompson’s committee destroyed its own records on the way out the door, which smelled badly. Bennie Thompson was pardoned by Joe Biden’s autopen, but Thompson could eventually be charged for destroying evidence.
U.S. District Judge Tanya S. Chutkan presided over one of the most consequential federal cases against Trump, this one tied to his alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Known for her tough sentencing of January 6 defendants, she was placed her under immense political and personal pressure, including threats and accusations of partisanship.
The Democrat strategists, however, made one major miscalculation. Believing their own propaganda, they overlooked the role that their own racial politics and DEI have played in elevating certain people of color to power. Yes, party leaders thought these cases might fail, but they did not anticipate that the prosecutors would embarrass them as Fani Willis, Letitia James, and Alvin Bragg most certainly did. Today, most are disgraced, disqualified, or under investigation. Their legacies are permanently stained.
The cynical Democrat legal strategy may have poisoned the well for Black prosecutors nationwide, reinforcing stereotypes of bias and unfairness that will outlast the failed cases for years to come.
The Democrats’ lawfare crusade was never about justice, it was about power. James, Bragg, Willis, Chutkan, and Thompson were pawns. They were used, discarded, and sacrificed in a partisan war they could never win. And when history looks back, it won’t remember them as champions; it will remember them as disposable proxies, casualties of a Democratic Party that cared more about destroying Trump than about justice and their own Black leaders.
Joel Gilbert is a Los Angeles-based film producer and president of Highway 61 Entertainment. He is the producer of the new film Roseanne Barr Is America. He is also the producer of the films: Dreams from My Real Father and There’s No Place Like Utopia and many other films on American politics. Gilbert is on Twitter: @JoelSGilbert.
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