Nature abhors a vacuum. The GOP is filling the silence.
They followed Trump into a trap.
According to the Republican message, the FBI didn't do a search, it was a raid.
Maybe they planted evidence.
Maybe they planted listening devices.
The FBI is dangerously corrupt.
The FBI are agents of Democrats out to imprison political opponents.
We are a banana republic.
I received lots of good comments yesterday from reasonable people telling me I was wrong. I had written here that the FBI and Justice Department needed to explain why it searched Trump's Mar-a-Lago residence. They told me the FBI and Justice Department have good, honorable, legally and procedurally sound reasons for not discussing ongoing investigations. It protects the person being investigated. It protects the integrity of a potential future prosecution. It is fair, because we have a presumption of innocence.
The problem with this is a mismatch of dramatic narrative and intensity. The people saying the search is wrong are outraged. Democrats generally are saying nothing. Merrick Garland is saying nothing. Yet, I am beginning to get my wish and recommendation. Better than the Democrats saying something reasonable is Republicans saying something extreme that they will regret. The FBI is speaking up, and the target is the least defensible part of the GOP attack: It's social media megaphone.
Christopher Wray is a Trump appointee in a FBI that is intended to be independent of political influence. Recall that Trump had hesitated to fire the previous director, James Comey, lest it appear he was putting a heavy-handed political stamp on the FBI. Trump went ahead. He appointed Wray, a member of the Federalist Society. Wray has perfect credentials as a block on Biden administration political influence, but Trump defines scrutiny of himself or his administration asper seillegitimate. Most GOP officeholders are going along.
Wray focused on the least defensible portions of the GOP outrage, the social media calls for the assassination of federal officials. Wray is shaping this as a GOP attack on law enforcement.
I’m always concerned about threats to law enforcement,. Violence against law enforcement is not the answer, no matter who you’re upset with.
Examples of comments on social media were this, on Gab:
All it takes is one call. And millions will arm up and take back this country. It will be over in less than 2 weeks."
And this:
Lets get this started! This unelected, illegitimate regime crossed the line with their GESTAPO raid! It is long past time the lib socialist filth were cleansed from American society!
Many Republicans have fully committed to an attack on the FBI. It was a trap they will likely regret. Their attack is parallel to the BLM "defund the police" message Democrats fell into two years ago. Few Democrats said it but all Democrats were affected by it. "Defund the police" is memorable. So is abolish the FBI. The brand will not be shaped by the measured tones of the cautious. It is being defined by the loud, outraged voices, and Trump is leading them. Disagreeing with Trump, or tempering the message risks being termed a RINO. As we saw with Democrats two years ago, soft opposition to "defund the police" is understood as consent. The GOP brand is being reshaped and hardened this week. It is a party which--if it gets power--will make dramatic changes to the FBI and Department of Justice, all in service to Trump.
Officeholders seem unbothered by the risk. Even senior GOP officeholders with presidential ambitions are committed to the "defund the FBI Gestapo" narrative. The complexion of the 2022 midterms is changed by this new branding--especially when combined with the excesses of red state legislatures unleashed by the Supreme Court.
The GOP looks extreme, out of control, and powerful. No one forced GOP leaders in this direction, but they followed Trump.
The ex-emperor and his cult followers have no clothes