Alina Habba didn’t climb the ranks of the American legal system. She skipped the line, changed into a power suit, and walked in through a side door marked “Loyalty to Trump.” Now, somehow, she’s the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey—without any real prosecutorial experience, a history of courtroom embarrassments, and a résumé more suited to cable news than constitutional law.

But let’s not pretend this is surprising. It’s strategic.

Habba wasn’t picked to prosecute crime. She was picked to be a weapon. And she’s swinging.

Since taking the role, she’s wasted no time in turning the office into a blunt-force political tool. She’s gone after New Jersey’s Democratic governor and attorney general with investigations so nakedly partisan they’d make Nixon blush. She’s filed assault charges against a Democratic congresswoman after a conveniently timed altercation at an ICE facility. And through it all, she’s smirking on television like it’s just another gig.

It’s not a Justice Department anymore. It’s a loyalty test.

This is the template now: appoint the loyal, prosecute the enemies, and call it law and order. Habba is just the latest, loudest example of that model. Her lack of prosecutorial depth isn’t a bug—it’s the point. She won’t hesitate. She won’t question. She knows exactly why she was given the title: to carry out political orders with a straight face and a scorched-earth briefcase.

And she’s doing it.

Forget due process. Forget norms. Forget precedent. Habba’s office is what happens when the legal system is repurposed as a campaign arm, and justice becomes a talking point. She’s not upholding the law. She’s gutting it—while wearing the badge.

This is how democracies rot.

One politicized prosecution at a time.