The FBI raid on the home and personal office of an ex-president three months before an election is a deeply shocking and harrowing event — even by 2022 standards.
When the news broke Monday night, there was cheering on the left and anger on the right.
Even “never-trumpers” and voters who have sidelined Trump as a political figure have voiced their intense anger.
Political journalists and the White House have been caught off guard by the news, and there is a frantic scramble to determine what this historic event means — both legally and politically — for Trump, the upcoming midterm elections, and the 2024 presidential election.
I’m not a lawyer. But I’m a political analyst. And there are three things I know to be true:
First, the American public has historically low levels of trust in our institutions and the people who run them.
Call it the deep state, the swamp, or whatever you want.
Disgust with the bloated, self-serving federal bureaucracy is one of the main reasons Trump got elected in the first place and why people want him to run for president again.
There is an overwhelming sense that the people in these institutions are corrupt, politically biased against conservatives and abusing their power for their own political ends.
Disgust with the bloated, self-serving federal bureaucracy is one of the main reasons Trump got elected in the first place and why people want him to run for president again
The ex-President of the United States is either on the verge of being indicted by the FBI in a dramatic and potentially heinous crime, or his supporters and Republicans alike are becoming so incensed that the political fallout will be felt like a nuclear bomb at half-time and beyond (above) Supporters of former President Donald Trump gather near his home in Mar-A-Lago on August 8, 2022
Even the most moderate Republicans are aware and believe that power has been abused for political gain and ultimately if you are a conservative they are out to get you and everything you believe in.
Second, over the past five years we have been given good reason to believe that the FBI is run by politically motivated individuals and that the agency makes biased judgments.
If you don’t believe me, just months before the 2016 presidential election, you can watch FBI Director James Comey’s press conference on the investigation into the Hillary Clinton email server scandal.
Comey gave everyone the impression that Hillary Clinton would be charged with a crime.
He kept us in suspense — he detailed the evidence of breaches of classified information-handling rules — only to say no charges were appropriate.
Comey shattered long-standing Justice Department rules that prohibit officials from going public with an investigation if they don’t file charges.
But King Comey – decided to do it his way.
And finally, I’ve been teased and tickled over and over again and led to believe that Trump and his family engaged in some form of illegal activity and would be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law, but that just never happens.
You can also look at everything related to the Robert Mueller report, Russiagate and everything else.
It’s a lot of sizzle without a steak.
They were all dead ends that only helped Trump in the end.
Previous investigations were historically unprecedented in scope and attention, and all of them got absolutely nowhere.
The only result is that the major players on the other side become cable news celebrities and trending topics on Twitter.
The hypocritical liberals reach for their pearls and keep calling themselves heroes.
And nothing – never – happens.
Do I think President Trump most likely engaged in illegal activities while in the White House?
Yes.
But I also don’t understand why all investigations are cold.
Why is it different this time?
The FBI’s raid on the home and personal office of an ex-president (above) three months before an election is a deeply shocking and harrowing event — even by 2022 standards
(Top) Agents of the Armed Intelligence Agency stand outside an entrance to former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate August 8, 2022 in Palm Beach, Florida
What was done on Monday is sailing America into uncharted waters.
The FBI is forcing all of us to question them and defend Trump. And I really don’t want that, because frankly I hate the man.
I believe he and his followers are an existential threat to America and the Republican Party.
Unfortunately, the bar is set extremely high for the FBI right now.
You have to justify the raid on an ex-president’s home.
If they don’t have the goods, if they haven’t absolutely made it, they’ve made one of the most catastrophic mistakes of all time.
What I fear is that if this raid turns out to be a red herring, Republicans across the party will be rallied to defend Trump.
It makes Trump a martyr.
Once again, he is viewed as such a menace to the Deep State and the swamp that the career bureaucrats who run our institutions will stop at nothing to try to destroy him.
And that, ladies and gentlemen, will be President Trump’s next blunt speech.
So where does that leave us?
If I were in charge of the FBI, I would advise everyone in charge to hold a press conference today to explain to the American people the justification for the raid, what they were looking for and what they found.
Once again, he is viewed as such a menace to the Deep State and the swamp that the career bureaucrats who run our institutions will stop at nothing to try to destroy him.
It cannot be ruled out that Trump actually did something illegal for which he could be prosecuted in the future.
The problem is that so many people have wolf-cried for so long, and broken and bent the rules so many times, that anything Trump-related has been surrounded by a healthy level of skepticism.
The ex-President of the United States is either on the verge of being indicted by the FBI in a dramatic and potentially heinous crime, or his supporters and Republicans alike are becoming so incensed that the political fallout will be felt like a nuclear bomb at half-time and beyond .
Anyway, I hope that the FBI didn’t just martyrize Trump and usher him into the 2024 nomination on a silver platter, because I believe it’s time our country moved on from him, MAGA Trumpism and the absolute chaos and drama removed from it surrounds his every move.
I also believe that it is time that the people who run our institutions understand that everything they do, for better or worse, is seen through the political lens and that they are badly corrupt in the arena of public opinion .
The game just got changed yesterday. And the effects are downright terrifying.