Why do we like to watch mud wrestling? We don’t care who wins. Something about the mud and nearly naked bodies makes us want to watch. Perhaps human degradation actually qualifies as a form of entertainment.
The match-up between Trump and the FBI qualifies. Put two sumo wrestlers in the mud ring, clang the bell, and watch them grunt until one of them goes down. It’s slippery, so you may not have to wait long. Three takedowns per match.
The FBI looks strong, but in fact it is weak.
Trump vs. FBI even has a good guy and a bad guy, like professional wrestling. In this contest, Trump is the good guy: everything he says about the FBI is true! Everything the FBI says – about anything – is false! Lyin’ FBI vs. Superhero Trump! Who would have thought it?
I don’t have a stake in this match. I don’t side with the FBI because I hate Trump. I don’t side with Trump because I hate the FBI. In this match, though, the FBI loses all bets. They look strong, because they practically personify the so-called Justice Department, but in fact the FBI is weak. Deceit and dishonesty always make you weak when you deceive people who believe in you, who have reason to trust you. Perhaps in this match, of all contests, people will finally see how the FBI operates. Only Nixon could go to China. Only Trump could bring down the FBI.
If the president’s Twitter tears make people reassess FBI’s involvement in domestic politics since 2015, we can manage our disillusionment.
I do think that over time, the FBI has destroyed its reputation, even if the Justice Department manages to prevail over Trump because the president’s cheering section is not large enough or loud enough. Who wants to defend the loudmouth in the White House when the FBI always picks up the white hats? This time, extended patterns of corruption and incompetence ought to give the win to the loudmouth. If the president’s Twitter tears make people reassess FBI’s involvement in domestic politics since 2015, we can manage our disillusionment.
This time around, the agency wanted to save the country from Donald Trump. The results speak for themselves.
Mainstream historians and journalists routinely gloss FBI’s harrowing, misconceived actions. Decades passed before researchers showed how deeply Hoover’s FBI involved itself in painful assassinations, strife, and political struggles during the 1960s. You sense the agency – on a smaller, domestic stage – wants to catch up with its big brother the CIA.
The agency has never been clean, yet their corruption reveals itself most starkly during periods of civil conflict. They apparently have a savior complex: internally they justify any action or policy, no matter how shamelessly anti-republican, if it helps save the republic. This time around, the agency wanted to save the country from Donald Trump. The results speak for themselves.
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The second article, by Jonathan Turley, contains an excellent account of the conflict between Trump and the FBI.
The Jeffersonian 