Seriously, that’s what the right-wing are offering in response to the FBI obtaining a search warrant for Mar-A-Lago and then searching it. This is exactly the way searches are normally handled under the law but the idea the law applies to Trump — and by extension, other Republicans — has them screaming about how its Gestapo tactics. According to forced-birther and female misogynist Abby Johnson ““If the FBI can go after a President, they can come after any of us.”
Or as Alexandra Petri puts it, “If this is what investigators will do to the former president of the United States — follow all the steps to obtain a warrant from a judge to search his home for documents that they (and the judge) believed probable cause suggested were there, then leave without arresting anybody — imagine what they will do to you! You might also have to deal with a search warrant from a judge! You, too, might receive due process when suspected of committing a crime!” But of course, that’s us little mortals — coming after powerful Republicans is Totally Different, at least to Republicans.
The logical assumption, given how over-cautious DOJ head Merrick Garland has been to date is that the FBI’s searching an ex-president’s mansion, they have a damn good reason: “In order to get court-authorization for the search warrant, federal investigators would have needed to demonstrate that there was probable cause to believe that a crime had been committed and that evidence of the crime could be found at the former president’s Florida estate.” Going after powerful people this way usually indicates something very serious at the root of it. With help from a confidential source.
But the right-wing wants to start from the assumption they had no justification. Heck, if the FBI found classified documents they must have planted them. Lying snake Franklin Graham compares it to the Ruby Ridge incident of decades ago. Online chatter is freaking out about the need for revolution. Fellow bullshit artist Newt Gingrich declares the FBI has turned on America — “And the left is so desperate, so frightened,” he adds, projecting as usual. Oh, and Steve Bannon claims the FBI is taking out a hit on Trump.
Of course, if the FBI had broken into the Clintons’ home without a warrant and thrown them into Gitmo, the outrage would be lacking. When Republicans complain about government turning against Americans they mean against them, not anyone else. Trump, of course, is whining about how he’s been martyred, while pleading the Fifth in an unrelated New York case. But he does that anyway.
Another Republican tactic (covered at one of the links above), is to claim this guarantees Trump’s victory in 2024. I doubt it. If he wins, it’s more likely because his acolytes are now running election offices all over the country. If Republicans can cheat, they will.
Fraser Sherman's Blog 