The Mar-a-Lago Raid

I’ll keep this short, since there’s lots of media coverage and I don’t have more information than anyone else. I just have a couple of observations.

First, predictably, the gop is putting out non-stop messaging calling the raid politically motivated and otherwise undermining the FBI’s legitimacy, with a few open call to de-fund, disband, or destroy the FBI. It’s ironic – though unsurprising – that the “law and order” party doesn’t care much for law and order when the law calls them to account. (These are the same people that defended the murder of a police officer with an American flag as political discourse on January 6th.) The BLUF is that this action, due to the subject and the potential implications, required an extraordinarily high level of review and concurrence. The notion that this was done on a whim or at the direct behest of the President without due process is absurd.

Next, The gop seems to be not just trying to undermine the legitimacy of the FBI, but also to incite people to violence. I have seen too many statements to count referencing lines that can’t be uncrossed, tipping points, a new police state (apparently joint FBI & IRS), and calls to “literally fight” against the Biden administration and Democrats. We already have a fringe culture that fantasizes about another civil war, and we saw many of them show up on January 6th, 2021. But that attempt failed, because not enough people showed up and not enough came armed with firearms. The gop is now trying to use accountability for the previous coup attempt as a trigger for a larger, more violent attempt. The coup attempt didn’t end in January 2021. It is ongoing.

Maybe I’m being alarmist. I find the violent rhetoric disconcerting and frightening, no matter how it may be veiled. We may be entering a very dangerous period. Nevertheless, we must continue to hold people to account, no matter what offices they held or hold. No one can be above the law.

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