Home » Further thoughts on the “unprecedented” Mar-A-Lago FBI raid

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Further thoughts on the “unprecedented” Mar-A-Lago FBI raid — 59 Comments

  1. It is certainly a provocation, as well as, without question, a blatant attempt to maintain power and control “by hook or by crook”, truly “by any means necessary”. It is noteworthy indeed that, over the last (sadly and outrageously “unprecedented”) day, so many intelligent conservatives have used such phrases as “crossing the Rubicon” in order to convey the desperation of such an act (point of no return) and “Praetorian Guard” to refer to the enforcers for and the protectors of the Deep State/managerial class/permanent bureaucracy. We may well, unfortunately, be living through the Decline and Fall of the American Republic.

  2. j e:

    We are absolutely living through the decline, and have for quite some time.

    The question remains as to whether we are living through the fall.

  3. I’m not sure there really is a “goal” in the sense that this is a well-thought-out and considered action. It’s more just another element of the non-stop tantrum our political establishment has been throwing since Trump got elected in 2016.

    Mike

  4. MBunge:

    I will not disagree with your assessment except on one point: the starting point for the non-stop tantrum was not Trump’s election. The left keeps trotting that lie out: “this president is beyond the pale: other Republican presidents were not, but this one is.”

    But if you stop to think about it, they have been saying the same thing since Nixon. They even said the same thing about Bush Père and fils. After each leaves office, they act as if they never treated him that way, but this new Republican president — well he really IS going to be the end of the American republic.

    Same old same old. And if DeSantis runs, you can bet we’ll be told “well we got along with Trump, but DeSantis really IS the end of the Republic.”

  5. It doesn’t appear the FBI learned anything from their Whitmer kidnapping stunt. They no longer have any credibility.

  6. F, I’m not sure it’s Nixon.
    I think this latest outrage first took off with Obama’s (and his media helots’) OTT—and utterly fearful—response to the Tea Party.
    – – – – – –
    In the following absurdly upbeat analysis…
    “Deep State Burns Its Bridges to Get Trump—and Now It’s Fighting for Its Life”—
    https://pjmedia.com/columns/gregbyrnes/2022/08/09/deep-state-burns-its-bridges-to-get-trump-and-now-its-fighting-for-its-life-n1619449
    H/T Instapundit.
    …we find the following:
    “…Attorney General Merrick Garland is making a big gamble that will bankrupt him if no “smoking gun” emerges…”

    If this assessment is correct, I guess Garland will “just have to find” that smoking
    gun, won’t he?

    Note, though, that if Garland is true to form, he has several “smoking guns” already manufactured and handy…just waiting to be deployed. All he has to do is choose the one (or ones) he thinks he needs.
    The FBI and the media will help him do the rest….

  7. “The question remains as to whether we are living through the fall.”

    I don’t think it remains a question. The fall is happening, slowly but steadily. When close to one half of the electorate will support, indeed cheer on, destruction of the close to another half, by any means necessary…we really don’t have a country in anything but formality.

    But that’s where we are at.

    I cannot say how long the fall will take much less what comes after it, but it certainly has already started.

  8. Right now they hold all the reins of power except SCOTUS: both legislative branches, the presidency, social media, and the press.

    About the presidency: Biden doesn’t seem to be holding on to anything any longer:

    “In the course of 5 seconds Biden forgets that he already shook hands with Chuck Schumer. . . . Schumer shakes Biden’s hand. Turns and shakes other hands, then Biden just sticks his hand out again as if he didn’t just shake hands with Chuck. Or maybe he’s shaking hands with the invisible man again. What is going on in this man’s brain? He is not well.”

    Video at the link: https://notthebee.com/article/in-the-course-of-5-seconds-biden-forgets-that-he-already-shook-hands-with-chuck-schumer

  9. The Right has resolutely NOT fought back so far. So I agree this is not a hopeful provocation that expects a violent response.

    I like the idea of a timeline: J6, hearings, whip public into a frenzy, bring hammer down on Trump. “They” are living in a bubble; it may be puzzling that things aren’t falling into place.

  10. If you are going to kill the King, kill the King.

    DOJ has an airtight case. Trump will be convicted by a DC jury. But if it really is about documents, that’s a nothing burger.

    Instead of Hillary, Trump will be locked up. Until, of course, DeSantis pardons him.

    The Dems have blown it. By getting rid of Trump, we get the better nominee in DeSantis.

  11. Talking point/mantra today on the left: “Trump has a copy of the warrant. Why won’t he produce it? He must produce it, today!”

    Thoughts, Neo? Anyone?

  12. I would wager good money that the DC DOJ has been doing mock trials with Trump as the Defendant and the facts as DOJ knows them.

    The DOJ won’t take a chance on getting rid of Trump.

    China tried to kill Trump (and us) with the Wuhan virus. Didn’t work. DOJ won’t make the same mistake.

    All I can say is Garland must really be pissed about not getting that SCOTUS job.

  13. Jim — the Right has not fought back yet. Excuse me while you hold my beer…!
    Ackler — BINGO!
    Barry — Yup. Fed bureaucratic Weaponization began with that Other Barry.

    But back to Jim, and adding to Neo’s list of consequences, I was just reading reaction to Sarah Hoyt’s latest musings, where she avers YeS, they are this dumb!

    But later, among commenters, the following expectation about the Rubicon Crossed Right emerges….Lone Wolves will soon be targeting (hopefully obnoxious and insufferable, if not also guilty) Leftists.

    AND, sure, the Hysterical Left will get all McVey-Ed over it, should it start. But get ready for theses alone Wolves to just be Lonely Obsessed Wolves that have indeed been triggered. Nothing more, other than loving guns, say.

    So. IF YOUVE EVER THOUGHT YOU MIGHT NEED A GUN FOR DEFENSE (or, for that matter, offensive use) — for the time is ticking faster and closer), DON’T WAIT! Do it now.

    I think those new IRS agents can just as easily be Presidentially ordered to serve as ATF agents and mustered into compiling illegal lists of arms owners, and slated for unconstitutional gun confiscation.

    THAT TIME IS NEARING, too. COUNT ON IT.

    https://accordingtohoyt.com/2022/08/09/speaking-of-bad-plots/

    HERE’s the segment of reader discussion that I found insightful:

    bgnad says:
    August 9, 2022 at 1:51 pm
    “One fellow I listen to was saying last night about the most likely outcomes from the raid (other than the crazy backlash that will come) is that “Many of those who are not yet awake will be woken up by this and many of the ones who are awake will become radicalized by it.”
    Which is something of a paraphrase.
    But I’m sure that he hit the nail on the head with the “radicalized” part.
    Reply
    Mike Houst says:
    August 9, 2022 at 2:34 pm
    “I mentioned two words above: Lone Wolves. I really think we’re going to start seeing some of that from the Right very soon. And they’ll probably be targeting specific people on the Left. And what was the name of that comedy? “A Thousand Ways to Die in the Old West?” All I can say is I’m glad I don’t work for the government right now.
    Reply
    accordingtohoyt says:
    August 9, 2022 at 3:01 pm
    “And they’ll be people who have NOTHING to lose. And there will be a lot of them. A growing multitude“

    kamas716 says:
    August 9, 2022 at 1:51 pm
    “I hadn’t heard about the Mar-a-Lago thing until late this morning. The first thing I thought of was, “I guess the Democrats really do want to start a civil war.” I haven’t looked into what it was they’re supposedly looking for, but it seems like a fishing expedition rather than a serious investigation….”

  14. neo @ 3:31,

    Sadly, true. When that fact depresses me I think about history and the fact the vast majority of humans lived in declining times, or, the status quo was simply “declined.”

    We are fortunate to have lived through some of our nation’s aspirational periods and, must always try to remember that we each have the ability to make our own lives and the lives of others positive and aspirational.

    Illegitimi non carborundum!

    As Americans we are taught that all humans are free and sovereign. We may have idiots holding the reins of government (and we do), but they can never own our minds or our souls.

  15. PA Cat:

    Whether or not Biden himself holds the reins of his presidency at this point is irrelevant. The Democrats hold them.

  16. I’m doubtful that the goal of this is to provoke a violent reaction, though the left would certainly welcome a controllable one. As it would provide the media with a field day.

    Even enough, if widespread enough to declare martial law. Which at some point is a certainty if the democrats retain control.

    Rather, it’s part of their envisioned path to preventing Trump from being able to run again.

    neo states, “How far they will go with this depends on how far they believe they need to go to stop him.”

    Making the case for… if needed… assassination.

    The irony here is that their hate filled paranoia of Trump blinds them to what might be an even greater disaster for them; the election of De Santis to the Presidency in 2024.

    As it’s a certainty that if Trump is prevented from running again in 2024, whether through imprisonment or assassination, it will present De Santis with an unmistakable lesson. Namely, just how far the left is willing to go in preventing their loss of power. Not that he isn’t already aware of it.

    De Santis is a former Green Beret and his actions have demonstrated that he won’t hesitate to act decisively. Undoubtedly he knows that when dealing with a rabid animal, only killing it will stop it.

  17. “This is a provocation. They are trying to get a reaction . . . ” [Wm Jacobson]

    I sometimes wonder if Trump is not intentionally doing the same thing.

    Why would he publicize his desire to fire 50,000 government employees prior to even announcing the he is running for president in 2024; one would think that stategically, this would be kept under wraps until after such an announcement.

    He’s not a stupid man; he must know that he’s living in the left’s head rent-free and it’s as if his actions are designed to intentionally exacerbate their extreme behavior and rhetoric as a prelude to his running again and perhaps as a prelude to the midterms.

    Remember the quote attributed to Napoleon: “Never interrupt your enemy when he’s making a mistake.” Now, if you can incite, encourage, and inflame that mistake, all the better. This could be a jiu-jitsu move using the left’s own tactics against them. After all, the Trump safe was apparently empty, and Mark Elias now admits that the point behind all of this is to make Trump ineligible to run again; the masks drop away yet again.

    I would expect no less from a fighter.

  18. Sorry for the delay everyone. Have been dealing with some surgeries in the family.

    @j e To be honest I fear that we have already passed that point. I am a student of history, and have done some studying and wargaming in Rome, and I feel that we entered into the Principate on Jan 6th. If not earlier when the “election” happened. When an authoritarian leadership consolidated power but lacked the legitimacy or credibility to transition too openly, and so wore the Republic’s outward structures and guises like a skinsuit until eventually they stopped pretending even to the degree they did.

    It also doesn’t escape my notice that this was accompanied by riots, civil war, and the horrors of the Proscriptions

    One possible benefit is that nobody would mistake Biden for Octavius/Augustus. Indeed his own camp seem interested in jettisoning him for someone better. But that is cold comfort.

  19. Rufus,

    “try to remember that we each have the ability to make our own lives and the lives of others positive and aspirational.”

    I suspect that the political prisoners in our D.C. Gulag might disagree. There are few Solzenitchens in the gulag. Few Viktor Frankls in the concentration camps. How many will come out of the left’s planned ‘reeducation’ camps with a “positive and aspirational” attitude, knowing they face ongoing social credit scores, digital tracking through implanted chips and “owning nothing”?

    This is what they have planned for us, as they’ve repeatedly stated. Only fight remains because there’s nowhere to flee to…

    “they can never own our minds or our souls.”

    It’s our bodies, assets and livelihoods, along with our speech they seek to control i.e. own. And it’s the minds and souls of the young and future generations that they seek to own.

    “Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted. Give me a child for the first 5 years of his life and he will be mine forever. Give us the child for eight years and it will be a Bolshevik forever. Vladimir Lenin
    [my emphasis]

  20. “.Indeed his own camp seem interested in jettisoning him for someone better. But that is cold comfort.” Turtler

    Of a certainty and the current, far ahead of the pack front runner is Gavin Newsome. Only what they plan to do with Kamala is unknown.

  21. The slow, or is it fairly rapid, degradation of actual “rule of law” to limit the ability of gov’t to oppress political rivals is so sad.

    As so many Germans believed the racist Nazis in their lies against Jews, so many of today’s college educated Democrats believe the TDS liars in their lies against Trump.

  22. While the Left thinks it holds all the reins of power, up to 75 million people are willing to die on this hill.

  23. T comments “ Why would he publicize his desire to fire 50,000 government employees prior to even announcing the he is running for president in 2024; one would think that stategically, this would be kept under wraps until after such an announcement.”

    It was already in the news. Axios did a two part LONG story to warn the Deep State and DC traitors that Team Trump is gunning for them through “Schedule F” which will make it much easier to fire both insubordination and incompetent federal bureaucrats — can’t have THAT!
    https://www.axios.com/2022/07/22/trump-2025-radical-plan-second-term

    NOTE — very long; part 2 linked in borrow byline.

  24. But what the right means by that is that the Democrats have become wholly dominated by a Stasi-like mentality.

    Not so much Stasi, or Gestapo, or KGB … IMO Iran’s IRGC might be the better comparison.

    This action is driven by the BELIEF of fundamentalist zealots that they are the only ones who can be right, and therefore all who dissent are evil and can be dealt with by any expedient means … life, liberty and due process be damned.

  25. Xi, Vlad, and Brandon. Brandon, owned by Xi and Vlad, proves to be the immediate existential threat to the USA. And the left is all in with this fundamental trans, or transformation.

  26. I believe DOJ and the FBI are capable of PLANTING some damning evidence in all those boxes they took out, that reportedly had not been opened.

  27. I am a student of history, and have done some studying and wargaming in Rome, and I feel that we entered into the Principate on Jan 6th. If not earlier when the “election” happened. When an authoritarian leadership consolidated power but lacked the legitimacy or credibility to transition too openly, and so wore the Republic’s outward structures and guises like a skinsuit until eventually they stopped pretending even to the degree they did.

    It also doesn’t escape my notice that this was accompanied by riots, civil war, and the horrors of the Proscriptions

    Turtler:

    A few days ago I posted this excerpt from a recent Victor Davis Hanson interview. I don’t know whether it addresses your concern, but VDH is saying Rome went through some very bad patches yet rebounded.
    __________________________

    So is this, “The last days of Rome”? I don’t know. Everybody says.

    When they say that, I ask myself, “Well, which Rome are you talking about? The sterile inert last days of the Republic, when people were satisfying their appetites?”

    People of the time said that you would never recover from Nero and Caligula and Tiberius and the year of the four Emperors.

    Then suddenly you get Vespasian, Titus and that ushers in Nerva, Marcus Aurelius, Trajan, Hadrian Antonius Pius, and Gibbon says this is the greatest period of human prosperity in history …

    Then it starts to decline and that cyclical process went on for 700 years continued for another thousand in the the Byzantine so we have an enormous ability to self-correct the problem that we’re facing now.

    https://www.thenewneo.com/2022/08/05/open-thread-8-5-22/#comment-2636085
    __________________________

    History is not a straight line.

  28. If Biden and the Deep State are as corrupt and criminal as we believe, what choice do they have, but to Stop Trump By Any Means Necessary?

    Not that they are justified to do so, but as Michael explains to Tom Hagen, after the failed attempt on Michael’s life:
    __________________________________

    You see — all our people are business men, their loyalty is based on that. Now, one thing that I learned from Pop was to try to think as people around you think. Now on that basis, anything’s possible.

    –“Godfather II”, “Michael and Tom”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qU0mLjGzdBU

  29. I used to be very dubious about the likely hood of a Second Civil War. Now I am not so sure. The Left becomes more and more oppressive, and unhinged every day. We may have a Civil War before the end of the Biden Fraudulency.

    The Democrats started the last one, and they may very well welcome the second one, thinking it an opportunity to cull the heard of the unwoke.

  30. @ Cornhead > “The Dems have blown it. By getting rid of Trump, we get the better nominee in DeSantis.”

    Bingo.
    IF somehow the FBI-DOJ cabal succeeds in indicting Trump, or even convicting him, and manages to get him jailed before the 2024 elections, they will then be dealing with an amalgam of Martin Luther (the original), Martin Luther King in Birmingham Jail, Sir Thomas More, and possibly others.

    So, the Trump supporters will rally to support DeSantis as Trump’s surrogate, the Trump haters will get DeSantis as a New Improved Candidate, and the Democrats will get trounced in the elections, because the surge of furious Republicans, outraged Independents, and even possibly some disgusted Democrats will overcome the mega-massive fraud that would be necessary to carry the Democrat-candidate-who-isn’t-yet-named.

    IF Trump continues to run from jail and wins (it’s happened in lesser offices, usually Democrats), they have no guarantee that SCOTUS will uphold their precious statute, because a mere law cannot over-ride the Constitutional qualifications for president (numerous pundits have made that point).

    Trying to ensure a Democrat win would require martyrdoms of either Trump, DeSantis, some conservative Justices, or all of the above.

    I really don’t think they ought to go there.

  31. In re Trump running in 2024:
    (1) Some people have said Trump shouldn’t announce what his decision is about running for 2024 until after the election, and I agree that maximum leverage is retained the longer he stays “unofficially” running, but it may be too late for that.

    https://notthebee.com/article/trump-posted-this-video-to-truth-social-last-night-after-the-fbi-raid

    The video is brilliant (somehow, the NeverTrumpers and Democrats forget that The Donald is a top-ranked media personality, and has professional crews already under contract), and must have been in the works for some time prior to the raid, which made an excellent excuse to launch it now.

    (2) The gloating by the Democrats, especially Marc Elias, that putting Trump in jail would automatically prevent him from serving as President again, makes it impossible for Trump NOT to run in 2024, just to prove them wrong.

    https://redstate.com/nick-arama/2022/08/09/marc-elias-lets-the-cat-out-of-the-bag-with-what-he-tweets-about-trump-raid-n609426

  32. Those of you pushing someone other than Trump in 2024:

    Unless your alternative to Trump has the resolve he had/has, at a minimum, to confront the Progressives and establish substantial policies that respect our rights … even if that means being as abrasive as Trump was/is … supporting someone else besides Trump will likely be counterproductive.

    It is that simple. It is not enough to elect a placeholder that the Progressives can wrap around their axle because “incivility is not who we are”. And we also need to elect a Congress that will back EOs up with laws that lock sound policies into place.

    DeSantis comes close. But so did Scott Walker until the campaign conslutants got hold of him.

    Supporting Trump – or More Than Trump – is a test of how much we value our own liberty, and the liberty of our neighbors, over being thought of as Nice People™.

  33. J. E. Dyer, as usual, takes an outside-the-box look at the Mar-a-lago Raid.

    https://theoptimisticconservative.wordpress.com/2022/08/09/world-crisis-raiders-of-the-lost-files/

    Those who identify the FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago as a crisis of the Republic are quite correct, and I am gravely concerned it’s a bigger crisis than anyone is thinking.

    The reason for that is what ensued a few hours after the raid, which reportedly occurred in the “pre-dawn” hours of 8 August 2022 in Palm Beach.
    Numerous TV news commentators pointed out Monday evening that nothing like this raid on the former president’s home has happened before in U.S. history. Americans aren’t the only ones who know that. We’re also not the only ones who know that proper procedure was ignored by the raiding team, according to witnesses. The FBI team should have allowed Trump’s lawyers to be present everywhere items were seized, but didn’t (the lawyers were reportedly excluded altogether); the FBI should have looked through the material being seized while they were inside Mar-a-Lago, to identify items responsive to a warrant, but didn’t; the FBI shouldn’t have peremptorily broken into a safe in Trump’s home, but did (and reportedly, as of Monday evening, found nothing in it).

    Worth noting here: this is the perfect set-up for evidence-planting. Preventing such a set-up is exactly why the procedures are followed. If the FBI wanted to get a case thrown out of court, they couldn’t have conducted the raid better to achieve that objective. Such a reality is a bracing counterpoint to assumptions that there’s anything to legitimately pursue Trump over in the material taken from Mar-a-Lago.

    The Russiagate hoax was one tremendous exercise in evidence-planting, in key elements of which the FBI and DOJ were complicit. There is no presumption of honesty at this point.

    That said, the narrative that this raid was prompted by National Archives concern about the “handling” of classified material at Mar-a-Lago also doesn’t parse. Nothing that could prove improper “handling” could still be at Mar-a-Lago, and solely at Mar-a-Lago. Either documents are missing or they aren’t; if they were “mishandled” during their sojourn at Mar-a-Lago, seizing other documents in a raid can’t provide unique proof of that.

    But the raiding team’s failure to verify what they were removing from the residence informs us that, whatever was in the warrant, they weren’t really looking for specific items of evidence anyway.

    Foreign governments have no trouble recognizing this as a gross breach of the rule of law and due process in the United States. They didn’t even have to hear about the procedural violations to recognize it for what it is. Raiding a former president’s home is unprecedented in the U.S. (including the Clinton home when Hillary was known to have deleted over 30,000 emails she’d been directed to retain, at a time when she was known to have processed, as secretary of state, verifiably classified emails via a private server on the Clintons’ property).

    So it matters that it was just a few hours after the Mar-a-Lago raid that the government of Russia, out of the blue, announced a suspension of on-site inspections of Russian nuclear sites under the New START treaty – i.e., the last vestige of a nuclear arms control treaty between the U.S. and Russia. This is what our current president would refer to, as he famously did when Obamacare was signed into law, as a “big [effing] deal.”

    I’m well aware that Russia has been complaining for a long time about U.S. pressure over perceived Russian violations of New START. That’s not the explanation for this timing. It’s a longstanding premise behind the action. What matters is that after literally years of that U.S pressure and Russian complaints about it, Russia suddenly suspends inspection access.

    It’s not reasonably possible that this game-changing shift in Russian posture had nothing to do with seeing the U.S. government go rogue in its treatment of an ex-president. (We can assume with high confidence that Russian intelligence was aware of the raid before the American public was.) The raid wouldn’t be the only factor; independent Russian intentions would be the other. Such intentions probably have to do with priorities on Russia’s perimeter, including Ukraine.

    But it can’t be overstated how big a signal the raid on Mar-a-Lago is that expectations about the rule of law are in grave peril in the United States.

    Now is the time for our foreign adversaries to make big moves. Consider this point: they may assume, as we do not, that the government that has just moved against Trump will begin behaving tyrannically much faster than we the American people imagine. We imagine a period of uncertainty and darkening confusion ahead. Russia and China may foresee rapid moves against their interests, from a U.S. government apparently prepared to act without accountability and restraint.

    Whether they see a window opening, or one closing, it’s a signal development from their standpoint. Since 1792, the government of the United States has never looked like this, with a figurehead president meaningfully embarked on senility, with no accountability as to who is making decisions, and apparently ready to violate good faith in its actions of government.

    The fevered and hysterical of brain, who think Trump is a walking constitutional crisis justifying every form of excess, are just that: fevered and hysterical.

    Addressing “Trump” cannot in any way justify a break with due process and constitutional restraints. If you can’t account for the continued enthusiasm for and loyalty to Trump in the voting population, look for it right there. There’s no justifying abuse of due process in approaching Trump, but that’s precisely how he has been repeatedly approached, starting with the numerous instances of evidence-planting and misconduct in the Russiagate hoax.

    Those who approve of such measures, deeming Trump to be a throbbing crisis and entertaining themselves with hearsay tales about him, come off not as noble or judicious but as demented Kool-Aid drinkers. They’re exactly like their “tinfoil-hat” counterparts among the right-wing opposition to Obama and Biden, the ones who give an ear to the worst kind of scurrilous gossip from anonymous sources.

    Many among the people are appalled by what the approvers approve. Abusing the law and legal procedure doesn’t become acceptable just because these tools are being used against someone the authorities and the media hate. Seeing it happen is alarming to the people.

    Thoughtful observers would find it just as alarming if it were being done to Hillary Clinton or Hunter Biden. As much actual evidence as there appears to be against them, they’re entitled to the same due process, standards of proof, transparency of procedure, and presumption of innocence as everyone else.

    So is Donald Trump. The Mar-a-Lago raid lacks the tokens of bona fides we have a right to expect if it’s a legitimate law enforcement action. It looks more like a political attack, intended to create an adverse impression: to paralyze and impugn Trump to the extent that he can’t attempt to run for president again.

    No euphemistic word salad will override that indelible appearance of politicized action. It would take actual evidence of some kind of extraordinary crime that could only be approached with exigent misuse of law enforcement powers. We aren’t going to see that. If there were a dead body or a foreign spy base at Mar-a-Lago we’d already know it, and other than that, nothing justifies such excesses.

    Indeed

    A few notes on the timeline in the U.S. government. John Solomon noted on Monday that this raid comes a week after the revelation from Senator Chuck Grassley that alleged whistleblowers had described to him a suppression by the FBI’s Washington Field Office (WFO) of the Hunter Biden laptop, along with other material from an FBI investigation of the Bidens, as Russian “disinformation.”

    Solomon thought that was concerning, particularly in light of the WFO having deployed the 30-man raiding party to Mar-a-Lago. His host in a Fox interview, Sean Hannity, suggested it would have been more routine to rely on a team from the local (Miami) field office. (My aside: I don’t know that in such an unusual action, we can draw special conclusions about special measures. That said, even if someone from the WFO might have been sent to ensure the items in the warrant were identified correctly, (a) it would still be common to add such an agent or agents to a local team rather than sending down 30 from several hundred miles away; and (b) no such care was being taken during the raid anyway, if witness reports are accurate.)

    At any rate, Solomon’s point is worth some reflection. Mark Levin, interviewed by phone a few minutes later on Monday night, pointed out that a complex raid like the one on Mar-a-Lago is planned over a relatively long period. This wasn’t a spur-of-the-moment action. It’s probably been on the shelf, planned and ready to go, for some time. (Again, my aside: one of the chief features is having to deal with the Secret Service to get into Mar-a-Lago. It struck me immediately that the FBI waited until Trump was away from his Florida residence to perform the raid. That probably had nothing to do with any urgency of the presidential documents issue, and everything to do with the situation at Mar-a-Lago in terms of Trump’s and his security detail’s presence.)

    It’s quite likely, in fact, that when Christopher Wray was testifying to the Senate last week, he already knew this raid would be conducted within a few days.

    Which is why he had to run off to his vacation refuge so quickly. *

    It’s noteworthy to me – we’ll see if the juxtaposition of events has explanatory staying power – that the last thing of note before the raid, in terms of U.S. government activity, was the Senate Democrats getting their controversial bill through on an excruciating 51-50 vote.

    The most important aspect of the bill is its 87,000 new IRS agents. For an increase of 870 or even 8,700 agents, a justification of casting a wider sampling net in the audit pool would fit. But an increase of 87,000 fundamentally alters the basis of the federal government’s relationship with all taxpayers, signaling that blatant fishing expeditions will become the norm, and will hold everyone at risk, rather than being a sampling tool.

    This will be a powerful form of intimidation and harassment, in part because the IRS can lead off by freezing all a taxpayer’s financial accounts, even before it documents by due process that it has found anything.

    It can’t help standing out in strong relief that immediately after that victory was secured, with its ominous implication for government’s relations with the American people, the FBI conducted an unprecedented and almost certainly meritless – but clearly foreseen and long-planned – raid on the home of a former president.

    The growing recklessness of what’s being done right now can’t escape notice. I think key foreign observers see it more clearly than we do. All of them know the signs of democratic collapse into political confusion and tyranny. Those signs have been well documented since Greek historians started recording the fluctuating fortunes of ancient Athens, and continue to this day in the “banana republic” model.

    That’s what America looks like at the moment. We can hardly believe it might happen to us, but none of the foreign observers is as invested as we are in assuming it wouldn’t. Their vision may be jaded and biased, but in some ways it’s clearer than ours.

    In light of these observations, it doesn’t seem random that suddenly, on Monday, at the same time Russia suspended on-site inspections under New START, the negotiators in Vienna announced there was some kind of outline for a potential Iran “deal,” which the parties to the talks are now repairing to their capitals to process.

    One of the other fronts is off the coast of China. China wrapped up the military exercises around Taiwan over the weekend. On Monday, Beijing promptly started a fresh set of exercises around Taiwan. That, plus the Russian suspension of New START inspections, and the odd, uninformative notice of a purportedly hopeful pause in the Iran talks, is an awful lot of major muscle movement going on at once – all within hours of the unprecedented FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago.

    Remember, the site inspections of the New START treaty aren’t of significance solely to U.S. security calculations.

    When Russia announces that the U.S. won’t be allowed to do on-site inspections, the whole world – Ukraine, Europe, Central and South Asia, the Middle East, the Far East – is on notice that there won’t be Yanks with clipboards visiting Russia’s nuclear facilities, looking out for everyone’s interests. And there’s not even a suspended treaty standing between the world and China.

    *https://redstate.com/bonchie/2022/08/08/that-flight-christopher-wray-told-senators-he-had-to-catch-turns-into-a-scandal-n608780

  34. DeSantis comes close. But so did Scott Walker until the campaign conslutants got hold of him.

    Jester Naybor:

    Walker is an interesting case. He was My Guy in 2016. He looked good — strong, smart, young, handsome with a record as a successful fighter against progressives. What’s not to like?

    So he ran for the Republican nomination in 2016 … and, when he got onto the national stage, froze like a deer in the headlights.

    I never figured what happened there. Suddenly it was just the Donald and the Dwarves and that was the story.

  35. I really don’t think they ought to go there.

    AesopFan:

    However, as I asked earlier, what else are they going to do?

    If they play things conventionally, they’ve got a losing hand, so they are doubling down and gambling.

    Trump is an existential threat. Not only can he rally the Deplorables and win, but at this point Democrats have an obvious backlog of heinous corruption and crime, which they can’t allow to be investigated and prosecuted.

    Democrats don’t have good options. J6, then the J6 committee, now the J6 show trials haven’t worked. So they are doubling-down again with this fishing expedition, hoping to catch a break — either with evidence or incitement.

    I’ve played tournament chess. When you are losing, you do your best to create complications and make unexpected scary moves, in hope of tricking your opponent into making mistakes. Chess slang for this is playing for the swindle. It works more than you might think.

    We are not seeing a brilliant Bond villain plan here. Democrats are playing for the swindle.

  36. Huxley, what happened is that the man who didn’t listen to the conventional wisdom of politics while being an EFFECTIVE governor of WI, started listening to it and went squishy on immigration in particular … IMO, because he heeded the words of campaign conslutants (misspelling intentional) who were fighting the last political war they “won”.

    Conslutants get paid for winning campaigns – not for the quality of governance between them. And the people wanted more than just a “win”.

    Walker was my FIRST choice as a Presidential candidate in 2016, because of his effectiveness as governor. Trump was my third choice, after Walker and Cruz … because I figured he’d govern as just another paragon of expedience … but when in office, Trump delivered more on sound conservative policy than any other POTUS in my lifetime except for Reagan.

  37. One thing I believe that should be considered is how far ahead a typical Democrat politician thinks, and sometimes I really question their ability to see much beyond their noses. This raid may be a prime example of that. Let’s raid his home and see what we can find, never thinking that the raid itself may cause consequences we haven’t considered. I’m reminded of how Biden withdrew from Afghanistan, pulling the troops out first without even contemplating the disastrous consequences of that action.

  38. At Power Line, Scott Johnson has been outraged by the FBI’s search of Trump’s house. While that’s not surprising, I’m shocked to read that he’s called for the dissolution of the FBI, as a remedy.

    Scott Johnson is far from reckless. I don’t think it’s unfair to call him a mainstream conservative. It makes me wonder whether the abolition of the FBI and the IRS should become part of the GOP platform for the next round of elections. I think the dissolution of both agencies is both necessary and feasible, but if Scott Johnson is also making that assertion, then maybe it’s become politically realistic.

    For those who missed Johnson’s Power Line post, here’s what I’m talking about:

    “We saw the FBI agents holding the fort down outside Mar-a-Lago with big weapons. It was sickening. Christopher Wray should be sent packing and the FBI should be dissolved and reconstituted. It has become an unaccountable and politically corrupt organization.” (https://tinyurl.com/yyk7pjr8)

  39. It makes me wonder whether the abolition of the FBI and the IRS should become part of the GOP platform for the next round of elections. I think the dissolution of both agencies is both necessary and feasible, but if Scott Johnson is also making that assertion, then maybe it’s become politically realistic.

    Cornflour:

    Even if the abolition fails, it might do wonders for concentrating the minds of those organizations on their charters instead of being enforcers for the Democrats.
    _______________________________

    Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.

    –Samuel Johnson

  40. Dan Bongino’s recommendation on Tuesday’s podcast: terminate everyone, top to bottom, who participated in the raid. “Just following orders” is the ticket to a new job in the private sector. And/or a ticket to some time in the slammer.

  41. The interesting question, to me at least, is if the FBI turned off the security cameras at Mar a Lago, why did they do that ? Plant some evidence? We have already seen them do it with the “dossier.” I expect another shoe to drop soon. The election in November is the obvious target. Michigan seems to be the laboratory for testing. The fake kidnapping plot, the disqualification of leading GOP candidates for Governor, now the Democrat AG trying to indict the Republican candidate for her job.

  42. NPR this morning repeatedly emphasized that this action was only the latest in a long litany of investigations, many still ongoing or even just threatened. And to make the message simple enough for the average dullard they cater to, NPR left out the salient fact that none of these fishing expeditions have caught any fish!

    You see, the fact that dozens of lures have been thrown into the lake simply proves that the fishing there must be great!!

  43. Huxley, you said “Even if the abolition fails, it might do wonders for concentrating the minds of those organizations on their charters instead of being enforcers for the Democrats.”

    I think that these agencies have committed many crimes, and know they must continue to hide them, or failing that pay dearly for them. Playing nicer from now on is not on the table.

  44. Ray Van Dune:

    I hope you are not under the impression I’m arguing for “playing nicer.”

  45. The interesting question, to me at least, is if the FBI turned off the security cameras at Mar a Lago, why did they do that ? Plant some evidence? We have already seen them do it with the “dossier.” I expect another shoe to drop soon. The election in November is the obvious target. Michigan seems to be the laboratory for testing. The fake kidnapping plot, the disqualification of leading GOP candidates for Governor, now the Democrat AG trying to indict the Republican candidate for her job.

    At this time, Eric Trump and the lawyer present have said no copy of the warrant was left and it was merely flashed at the lawyer from ten feet away. The latest contention is that the FBI agents told the staff to turn off the security cameras and the staff refused.

  46. It makes me wonder whether the abolition of the FBI and the IRS should become part of the GOP platform for the next round of elections.

    Sorting their functions into several successor agencies and firing abusive employees should be on the agenda. Not sure how you suppose the government is to function without a tax collection service. One problem with both agencies is the excessive complexity of the codes they enforce and the resultant opportunity for nefarious exercises in discretion. You want to fix the IRS, step one is to fix the tax code.

  47. Huxley, can you please tell me what specifically DOJ or IRS might do instead of maintaining the current course or doubling down? No disrespect – I just want to know what they might do in your estimation…

    Suppose the fog cleared in Joe’s head and he realized he just stepped in a cow pie – what could he do?

  48. Ray Van Dune:

    Not sure of your question.

    The DOJ and IRS could catch bad guys and collect taxes, fairly and objectively, according to laws and protocols. Somebody has to do those things.

    I doubt we can abolish either, but IMO both organizations could use a near-death experience to clarify their missions.

  49. Art Deco on August 10, 2022 at 1:17 pm said:
    “Not sure how you suppose the government is to function without a tax collection service.”
    ________________________________________________________

    Art Deco:

    I’m certain there are many economists and lawyers more expert than I am in taxation, but my first thought is that the income tax would be replaced by a national sales tax or VAT. This would so simplify tax collection that the service(?) could be transferred directly to the Treasury Department. The IRS would then be abolished. Its replacement would be much smaller, more focused, and less prone to politicization and social engineering.

    As always, the devil’s in the details, but that’s my first thought.

  50. @GB at 5:28.

    “De Santis is a former Green Beret and his actions have demonstrated that he won’t hesitate to act decisively.”

    Untrue.

    “During the surge, DeSantis served as a senior legal advisor to the SEAL who commanded Special Operations Task Force-West in Fallujah, Navy Capt. Dane Thorleifson.

    DeSantis was responsible for helping ensure the missions of Navy SEALs and Army Green Berets in that wide swath of the Western Euphrates River Valley were planned according to the rule of law and that captured detainees were humanely treated, said his commander at the time.”

    source https://www.tampabay.com/main/2018/09/21/what-did-ron-desantis-do-during-his-tour-in-iraq/

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