After noting that the House Freedom Caucus canceled a scheduled press conference to bemoan the FBI’s execution of a search warrant at Mar-a-Lago, Josh Marshall observes:
It is probably best to say that we are back in one of those fugue windows Trump Republicans have, much like January 7th-9th 2021, in which there’s a period of relative silence while a story is devised to explain why something inexplicable and indefensible is in fact awesome and totally fine. They’ll get there.
Support for Trump never wavers. The only thing that changes is what conservatives are willing to call permissible. And, as Marshall notes, the worst offenses soon become positive and even necessary virtues in the eyes of Trump’s defenders.
We were supposed to lock Hillary Clinton up behind bars because she used a private email server to handle some classified documents and information, but conservatives don’t think Trump should be punished for taking far worse risks with far more sensitive information, perhaps even including about our nuclear capabilities.
The search warrant the FBI obtained for Trump’s Florida resort property says the disgraced ex-president is being investigated for possible violation of three separate federal criminal statutes.
18 USC 2071 — Concealment, removal or mutilation
18 USC 793 — Gathering, transmitting or losing defence information
18 USC 1519 — Destruction, alteration or falsification of records in Federal investigations
Trump should count himself lucky that he’s only under the gun for violating 18 USC 793 and not 18 USC 794, which involves “Gathering or delivering defense information to aid foreign government.” Both statutes fall within what is generally understood to be “The Espionage Act.”
Notably, he’s also under suspicion of holding classified documents for the purpose hiding evidence in “Federal investigations,” either through concealment, removal, mutilation, alteration, or falsification of records.
The House Freedom Caucus was all geared up to argue that the real culprit here is the federal government, and especially the FBI, the Department of Justice, and Attorney General Merrick Garland. But, for today at least, they decided to pause and regroup. But Marshall is correct: “They’ll get there.”
For a long time, I thought there was a point beyond which Republicans would not go. At least not the mainstream of the party. I’ve long ago given up that delusion, as they made plain there is no level of corruption too odious. It’s all about power. When Liz Cheney and her daddy, Darth, is the conscience of your party, you’re in big fucking trouble.
Of course, I really mean we’re in big fucking trouble. All of us. Our entire country. Alas, that’s not a reason to look the other way (as so-called “moderates” often advocate). At the end of the day, we must stand up to bullies. One cannot make allowances or look the other way when crimes have been committed. The rule of law must apply across the board, even to an ex-president who has tremendous influence; otherwise, we no longer have a country worth saving because there’s nothing left to save.