The FBI raid of Donald Trump’s Florida home continues to dominate the news, and for good reason. It was an unprecedented abuse of power by the federal government, and the fact that it apparently happened over something as mundane as the Presidential Records Act only underscores that.
Needless to say, in the face of a weaponized FBI and broader federal bureaucracy, it is more important than ever for Republicans to draw a clear line in the sand. Unfortunately, the spineless GOP establishment isn’t doing that.
Here’s the supposed “future of the party,” Sen. Tim Scott, going on CBS News to say we need to let things “play out.”
Republican Sen. Tim Scott said he was shocked but would not rush to judgment after the FBI searched former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home in Florida, a major escalation of the Justice Department’s probe into potential mishandling of White House records.
“We need to let this play out and see exactly what happens. But we should have been stunned and surprised and shocked with what happened yesterday,” the South Carolina senator said Tuesday on “CBS Mornings.”
Scott recently endorsed leftwing GOP Sen. Lisa Murkowski, calling her a “strong leader,” and now he goes off and does this? We do not need to “let this play out” because there can be no justification for raiding a former president’s home under the guise of the Presidential Records Act. Presidents have complete power to declassify documents, and there have been numerous debates over the years about what must be handed over. Not once did the FBI escalate matters to the point of raiding a former president’s home, and for good reason. Heck, not even Hillary Clinton possessing classified documents on a bathroom server resulted in the FBI executing a search warrant.
Clearly, there are two different sets of rules at play, and it is incredible to see Republicans still playing the “well, we just need more information” game as if the FBI’s corrupt history isn’t already established. Sen. John Thune, another establishment figure, had the same type of response.
Notice how Thune steadfastly chooses to not even mention Trump’s name, as if the former president’s identity isn’t at the core of this government abuse. And to suggest that we just need an “explanation” from the very agency that has lied and manufactured evidence against Trump and other Republicans for years is insane. I’d call Thune gullible, but he’s not gullible. He’s just an establishment shill who doesn’t have the guts to call out the FBI for what it has become. Better to send another strongly worded letter and to hold another hearing where Christopher Wray will refuse to answer any important questions.
Meanwhile, Chris Christie, who is probably deluded enough to think he can run for president again in 2024, called the raid “fair game.”
“It’s fair game, and you just have to display probable cause to a federal judge that … there are contents in that safe that would assist in proving a violation of the law,” Christie said in an interview with Sirius XM’s Julie Mason.
“It’s not anything that’s out of bounds to go into a safe, and it happens frequently in federal law enforcement. But again, you have to have the factual underpinnings to be able to convince a federal judge that you need and have the right to do that.”
Then there’s Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. Unlike Scott and Thune, who at least put out weak statements, he’s actually refusing to respond to the raid at all.
That’s it for me. I enjoyed the “Cocaine Mitch” memes as much as the next guy, but the last few weeks have revealed McConnell for what many have long said he is: A pathetic, ineffective clown. Even putting aside his unwillingness to call out the FBI’s corruption, he’s fresh off getting played by Sen. Joe Manchin. At what point does the “master parliamentarian” start to show some mastery?
This has to stop. These establishment figures can not continue to control the Republican Party. There must be major changes at the top levels of its leadership, specifically in Congress, and those changes won’t happen unless the voters demand them. One way to get there is to go out and vote in November, ensuring that the anti-establishment GOP candidates (who dominated the primaries) get elected. It’s time for a changing of the guard, and that should begin with McConnell himself. He doesn’t get to live off scuttling Merrick Garland’s Supreme Court nomination forever, and besides, McConnell turned around and voted to confirm the guy as the attorney general. How’s that worked out?
As to Scott and the rest, they should cease their delusions of grandeur. If Republicans can’t count on them on an issue as black and white as this, they are useless.
UPDATE:
Minutes before this piece was set to be published, McConnell finally put out a statement. Surprise, surprise, it’s another pathetic call for an “explanation.”