What They Really Mean: “Defund Agencies That Investigate Republicans’ Crimes’’*
The GOP revealed that its support for the people in blue is contingent on law enforcement targeting the right’s political enemies and leaving Republicans alone. The GOP Belatedly Embraces “Defund The Police”. Having exchanged their souls for one-way tickets on the Trump train, the GOP has nothing — facts, for example — to work with right now other than the facile projection that they and dear leader are the victims of weaponized law enforcement for purely political purposes.
The FBI’s search and seizure at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago and the Inflation Reduction Act’s infusion of billions to create an army of meddling IRS investigators is proof enough that the feds are coming for you (and not after just wealthy tax cheats). The rhetoric on the right has gone so far as to call for violence against federal law enforcement: “Under my plan, all Floridians will have permission to shoot FBI, IRS, ATF and all other feds on sight! Let freedom ring!” Florida GOP candidate Luis Miguel calls for violence against federal agents.
We know that passengers on the Trump train are Barred from any form of blasphemy, viz., they are prohibited from entertaining, let alone vocalizing, that Trump could have committed crimes (or lost an election). If they are not smart enough to remain silent, as Trump apparently was in New York recently — some 450 times — they are strictly limited to attacking the legitimacy of the process and investigation itself. Even then, few have learned the invaluable lesson that crow goes down much easier if eaten when it’s young. Most have not.
In addition to publishing a series of nonsensical and inconsistent conspiracy theories, which include admissions against personal interest, Trump is attempting to delegitimize the search and seizure by announcing the imminence of a “major motion” “pertaining to the Fourth Amendment . . . concerning the illegal Break-in of my home, Mar-a-Lago. . . . My rights, together with the rights of all Americans, have been violated in a level rarely seen before in our Country.”
As we know, the Fourth Amendment protects people, from “unreasonable searches and seizures,” not from “any and all searches and seizures.” Scope of Rights Protected by the Fourth Amendment. Since 1974, the Supreme Court…