Partway through the first year of Trump’s second term, the joke lingers for a reason. Take this report in The Hill, for example, from earlier this week:

CIA Director John Ratcliffe said he made referrals to the Justice Department for former Obama administration officials following the release of intelligence information about the 2016 election. Ratcliffe said former CIA Director John Brennan, former Director of National Intelligence (DNI) James Clapper and former FBI Director James Comey could all face charges relating to what he called a ‘hoax’ about the election.

As part of the same exchange, Fox News’ Maria Bartiromo asked about the possibility of Clinton being prosecuted, and the brazenly partisan CIA director left that door wide open.

https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/post/3luxcl6goge2h

Link to tweet

A day later, when a conservative media host suggested that Clinton, among others, should be sent to a detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin replied, “Let’s hope they prosecute.”

The day after that, Sen. Chuck Grassley of Iowa, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, turned his attention to alleged “thumb drives” that he believes contains “unreviewed” information about the “Clinton email scandal.”....

To be sure, all of this is hysterical nonsense that even the most knee-jerk partisans should recognize as unserious, but in 2025 — more than 12 years after Clinton left public office — Republicans have apparently struggled to turn other Democratic leaders into villainous caricatures, and so they’re stuck peddling tired absurdities about the former secretary of state, just as they've done for the past few decades.

Old habits, in other words, die hard.