Can The Center Hold?
Can The Center Hold?
The conservative response to the FBI's search of Mar-a-Lago is inciting Trump supporters and potentially fomenting violence.
I’m Michael A. Cohen, and this is Truth and Consequences: A no-holds-barred look at the absurdities, hypocrisies, and surreality of American politics. If you received this email - or you are a free subscriber - and you’d like to subscribe: you can sign up below.
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The Blood-Dimmed Tide Is Loosed
As you might have heard, the FBI executed a search warrant on Monday at the Florida home of former president Donald Trump. The move represents a significant ramping up of the multiple Department of Justice investigations into the former president. It increasingly feels like a question of when not if Trump will be indicted. And based on the reaction of Trump’s allies to the FBI search, I am genuinely fearful about what comes next.
Earlier this week, I wrote about my fears for the Daily Beast:
Without evidence, members of Congress and conservative commentators, en masse, are accusing the Department of Justice of an abuse of power and targeting the president in an illegal political witchhunt.
… Florida Governor Ron DeSantis characterized the “raid” as “another escalation in the weaponization of federal agencies against the Regime’s political opponents.” This is the language of far-right conspiracy theorists, only it’s being spouted by a potential frontrunner for the 2024 Republican nomination.
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida compared the actions by federal law enforcement officials to “something we have seen many times from 3rd world Marxist dictatorships.” Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas called the search “unprecedented” and said, “The Biden Admin has fully weaponized DOJ & FBI to target their political enemies.”
… as has been obvious for some time, when it comes to Trump, the GOP doesn’t care about “law and order” or the rule of law. Several prominent conservatives, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, even tweeted, “DEFUND THE FBI,” an ironic accusation from a party that has spent the past two years accusing Democrats of wanting to “defund the police.”
… In accusing President Joe Biden and Attorney General Garland of using the Department of Justice to go after their political enemies, elected Republicans are further eroding faith in the rule of law and federal law enforcement agencies. They are telling their supporters that simply investigating potential wrongdoing by the former president is an illegal act. In effect, they are arguing that Trump is above the law.
They are laying the groundwork for potential violence.
Conservative commentators are throwing even more chum in the water. “This. Means. War,” blared the far-right news site “The Gateway Pundit.” “Tomorrow is war,” declared Steven Crowder, a right-wing YouTuber with nearly 2 million Twitter followers. He added, "There needs to be a hill you're willing to die on. This is it.” It was a statement echoed by Monica Crowley, a former Trump administration official. Steve Bannon, who was convicted of contempt of Congress last month, told his millions of followers, “We’re at war.”
“The FBI needs to be fumigated,” tweeted Glenn Beck. "It almost feels like a pre-emptive coup," said far-right radio host Buck Sexton. Mark Levin said, "What the Biden administration did today was a shot between the eyes of this Republic," and he called the search, approved by a federal judge, “the worst attack on this republic in modern history.”
With the kind of rhetoric flagrantly tossed around and the incitement of pro-Trump supporters, it feels like it would be a miracle if violence is avoided. As I noted for the Daily Beast, “If this is the reaction when Trump’s home is merely searched, imagine what the response will be if the former president is indicted and arrested.”
Indeed, there has been a significant uptick in calls for violence on pro-Trump social media. According to CNN:
"Lock and load," was one of the top comments on an online forum dedicated to former President Donald Trump on Monday night, soon after it emerged his Florida Mar-a-Lago resort had been searched by the FBI.
Other posts were more explicit, "I'm just going to say it. [Attorney General Merrick] Garland needs to be assassinated. Simple as that." Another user posted, "kill all feds."
Users also encouraged others to post the address of the judge they believe signed off on the search warrant. "I see a rope around his neck," a comment under a picture of the judge read.
… There was a surge in tweets Monday mentioning "civil war" -- at some points more than one tweet a second, according to a CNN review of data from Dataminr, a service that tracks Twitter activity. While some mentions of "civil war" came from Trump critics expressing fear what his supporters might do -- one researcher posted multiple screenshots of Twitter accounts outright calling for civil war.
In a way, it feels like that’s what the past 19 months, since January 6, have been leading up to — polarization, so intense, morphing into hatred that makes political violence now seem inevitable. I don’t mean to sound alarmist because that’s not my nature. Indeed, I co-wrote an entire book decrying unwarranted pessimism about the state of the world, but something about our current moment feels different.
The far-right is systematically removing the guardrails that have, in the past, kept our politics relatively sane. They are destroying faith in our political institutions and increasingly describing their political rivals as corrupt, dictatorial, and irredeemable. They speak openly, even optimistically, about “civil war” and political bloodshed. If there are proverbial adults in the GOP room, they are increasingly difficult to find. At the very least, the far louder voices fomenting and inciting violence are drowning them out.
To quote Yeats, “Things fall apart; the center cannot hold.”
And you know what the worst part is? They’re doing it in support of this guy …
More Signs of Political Trouble for the GOP
Another day, another political outcome that suggests that Republicans are facing some serious political headwinds.
In a special election in Minnesota’s First Congressional District, Republican Brad Finstad appears to have eked out a narrow four-point win over his Democratic opponent, Jeff Ettinger. Why is this bad for Republicans? This district went for Donald Trump by ten points in 2020. So this is yet another red-leaning district in which Democrats have overperformed (we saw a similar outcome in a special election in Nebraska last month).
Finstad will face off against Ettinger again in the Fall, and a race that few political observers expected to be competitive now might be up for grabs. Having said that, Finstad is still favored to win, and the odds are that Republicans will win back the House in November. But the assumption that many of us had, earlier in the year, of a Republican wave election seems no longer viable. If the GOP takes back the House, it likely won’t come on the heels of a 30-40 seat victory. And, considering the undeniable enthusiasm of Democratic voters — almost certainly sparked by the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade — it’s truly anyone’s guess as to how the midterms play out. But right now, in opposition to everything we know about midterm elections, it is the Democrats who have the wind at their backs.
What’s Going On
Republicans are now rooting for civil war, says Mona Charen.
Excellent reporting by Catherine Rampell on why the IRS needs $80 billion.
Fascinating article in the Wall Street Journal on how “Better Call Saul” redefined television.
Musical Interlude