I’m not a big fan of the Washington Post editorial board, but I credit them with not flinching from the threat of fascism. In a short-and-sweet posting on Wednesday, they deplored the Republicans’ reaction to the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, and gave absolutely no credence to their talking points. More importantly, they didn’t fret that the raid might lead to violence or civil war. Instead, they reasonable projected that the Department of Justice will have to explain themselves, and that Attorney General Merrick Garland will find that challenging if the raid doesn’t lead to criminal charges.
Of course, criminal investigations of presidents shouldn’t be undertaken lightly. The warrant in this case isn’t public; even if it were, only a sealed affidavit could tell the full story about the evidentiary basis for the search. The improper retention of records is a serious offense that shouldn’t be dismissed, but it is so far unclear whether Mr. Trump’s retention of these records constituted a violation of national security, a threat to democracy, or any other grave abuse. Attorney General Merrick Garland, then, finds himself in a tricky position: He may eventually be summoned before GOP-controlled congressional committees and ordered to explain himself for allowing the FBI’s actions — a job that will prove more difficult if the inquiry doesn’t lead to criminal charges or evidence of major wrongdoing.
The editorial board could have been much tougher, as well as more thorough. But they checked all the important boxes, from the “no-duh” point of Republican hypocrisy in light of their “Lock Her Up!” chants about Hillary Clinton, to the observation that blindly defending Trump and attacking the FBI is “disturbing and dangerous.”
A key point here is that GOP doesn’t even know what exactly they are defending. They don’t care, at all, what Trump might have done or that it could later be a big liability to have assumed he was an innocent victim of a politicized Justice Department. They are just doing their utmost to destroy faith in federal law enforcement and the federal system of justice.
It’s this act that I characterize as fascism, because the goal is to disempower the DOJ and FBI to hold conservative criminals accountable. When they seize control of these institutions again (and they eventually will), they will destroy their independence and use them exclusively for their own political ends. The remedy is not to preemptively do this job for them by making the DOJ stand down, but to address the threat head-on and to roll up the conspiracy to end our form of government and destroy our institutions.
If that leads to a civil war or some sort, at least it will begin with the defenders of democracy in charge rather than in a position of weakness. I’m glad to see the editorial board take a position that is both principled and unflinching. I’m marking my scorecard for those who show weakness and fear.
The FBI, along with countless police departments, kick peoples’ doors down with search warrants on an hourly basis in this country. To declare that certain individuals should never have that happen to them is outright fascism as those individual are therefore not subject to the law. That’s exactly how far you have to go do shit on Republican talking points. They support fascism and Donald Trump is one of their fascist leaders who shouldn’t be subject to the law.
The fascists won’t actually call for your murder in the middle of the night, and right-wing authoritarians don’t have the stomachs to do that murdering – until after they have their rightful authority figure in the White House and run the House and Senate…and that statement isn’t meant to be comforting.
Been telling people I know who are politically like-minded to me to prepare for the worst, because some form of the worst is coming. It might not actually BE the worst, but when it happens it won’t really matter one way or the other. There is a storm just over the horizon, and it’s almost a certainty that it’s going to arrive at some point in the not too distant future. Ignore at one’s own peril.
Trump’s (ongoing) attempted coup increasingly dwarfs Watergate both in the number of actors/participants and in its threat to our democracy. That said, the two episodes are (imho) an example of history not repeating, but rhyming.
One of the things that shocked Nixon’s die-hard supporters is that he lied to them right until the very end—his political base, his party, his cabinet, his staff, his family. It was only at the very end, after the Supreme Court made him turn over the tapes, that they knew he’d been lying to them for years…and the bottom dropped out of his support (down around the 27% crazification factor).
Jimmy Breslin’s Watergate book, “How the Good Guys Finally Won”, still makes for an entertaining (dare I say, inspiring) read. https://masscommons.wordpress.com/2022/06/23/how-the-good-guys-finally-won-this-is-what-democracy-looks-like/
Right-wing media in general and Fox News in particular has burned out the latent ability of a Republican base voter to know or care what the “truth” is. They literally don’t care. They are reprogrammable meatbags. All they know is victimhood and rage, truth is immaterial.
You know how they’ve been crying hysterically about “identity politics” for the past 10+ years? Start with the fact that their every accusation is a confession. They only care about their identity, and for those who they identify with. They will identify with Trump and any other fascist who is unafraid at using right-wing conjuring phrases openly.
Fascists don’t stop until they’re physically stopped.
Huh, and today they chased this nutbag FBI shooter in Cincinnati right by where I live, and he’s camped out in a cornfield just a little north of my house. Good times out here in Trumpland.
Right on cue, some RW asshole attacked an FBI office in Cincinnati today, and got shot for his efforts. Not sure if he’s dead. But the cops are after the motherfucker.
I hope they kill him dead.
No, they need to bring him in alive.
Nah, cheaper to take out the trash. He’s just a foot soldier anyway. It’s the organizers you want to take alive.
Well, he’s dead.
The right wing had their coup moment on Jan 6th, and failed.
Discussion of a “civil war” is a way to normalize violence and is way to distract people from what is going on.
Biden has had a great few weeks. But the signing ceremonies for some awesome bills were over shadowed by the FBI raid and the right-wing nuts going on about a “civil war” and getting coverage for that.