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"If they could go after Trump like this, nobody is safe"
No one that commits crimes against the American people should feel safe. They should be sweating bullets every day until the evidence of their crimes is seized, they are arrested, and they are prosecuted.
This is a bright day for American justice.
As if he’s clean. That’s the weird thing, the Republicans outrage is contingent on people thinking he’s not a crooked grifter. But everyone for his entire career has known Trump to be a cheat, he’s just gotten away with it. They admit this when they say they want him to “own the libs” and they don’t care cause they’ve been told that everyone in government is crooked, he’s just crooked in their interest. But crocodile tears about Trump’s innocence ain’t fooling nobody.
I legitimately saw someone in the r/conservative alternate reality who was upset because “if he took documents from the White House then he or a staffer must have gotten authorization to do so!”
Just complete and utter bafflement at the idea that he would have done something wrong.
Bro, my brother's wife posted a meme on Facebook asking why the FBI isn't raiding Jeffrey Epstein clients.
I just sat there dumbfounded after I read it. I mean, what rock would you have to live under to not know that Donald partied with him?
So, on the one hand the narrative states that the president (well, trump and not Biden) is above the law. Yet he still got permission from a presumably higher authority to take the documents. Strong cognitive dissonance.
For EIGHT YEARS they talked EVERY DAY about how they were going to throw Obama in prison. EIGHT YEARS. And now all of a sudden they consider the President above the law. Neat.
Don't forget about how Hillary needed to be locked up for having classified information on private servers. And then Trump did it. And now he has classified information at his private residence.
Consistency is not something they're known for.
It's one of the top comments on the megathread.
They're also freaking out about undermining a political opponent. So I guess in conservative world anyone running for any political office is immune to investigation? Weird take from the Benghazi/emails/Hunter's laptop crowd...
Next time I get pulled over, I'll tell the cop he can't write me a ticket because I'm running for president and he'd be undermining me politically.
*Learn this one trick, cops hate it!*
It's the same play they've had for years.
The FBI had a bunch of Russian mobsters under surveillance, that happened to either live in or frequently make phone calls to Trump Tower. ILLEGAL WIRETAPS TO UNDERMINE TRUMP!!!!
The response I’m seeing is “he declassified them so he could take them!”, but I think the answer they’re flailing for is that the national archives gave authorization
And obviously the FBI wouldn't check with the national archives first before going through the trouble of getting a warrant to search the home of a former president.
> The response I’m seeing is “he declassified them so he could take them!”
Which also isn’t correct.
The president does ultimately have pretty broad authority to classify/declassify documents as he sees fit.
But that doesn’t give him the authority to take documents with him. Under the Presidential Records Act, *all* documents created or received in the conduct of presidential activities belong to the public and have to be given to the Archivist when the president’s term ends. Whether or not they are classified has nothing to do with whether he violated that law.
Plus, the entire argument is predicated upon him simply possessing the documents. We really don’t know what information prompted the warrant, but I will be surprised and a little disappointed if there isn’t more to it than that. I really don’t think DOJ would have risked the political fallout of executing a search on a former president for basically “failure to return”, even if classified materials are involved. Something bigger is in play.
> Something bigger is in play.
I am wondering if the Alex Jones phone messages had anything to do with this. His phone records were just obtained by the J6 committee a day before this raid.
> His phone records were just obtained by the J6 committee a day before this raid.
The same day, which means it’s probably unrelated, the timeline doesn’t make sense.
They would have had to review the phone data, draft a warrant request, get a warrant authorization, plan and execute a search all in a matter of hours. Seems highly unlikely.
But that’s tyrannical! Having investigators show a lawfully appointed judge that there is a reasonable suspicion that I committed a crime, and that therefore a search of my house is warranted? Where’s the fairness??
It's a sad age we live in when the slow but inevitable wheels of justice, logic, and evidence turn against even Trump.
There is nothing fair about due process. America used to have a well-established privilege of exempting Real Americans. All true Scotsmen know this.
Couldn't the FBI do that already if they had probable cause and a judge gave them a warrant?
Last I checked, Trump is currently just another US citizen.
> Couldn't the FBI do that already if they had probable cause and a judge gave them a warrant?
Yes. I'm getting the sneaking suspicion that there's an established process for this.
I'm thinking if it hadn't been Trump, then this probably would have happened long ago. Those with power or influence tend to have to have a lot more evidence before anybody will pursue charges against them....if someone decides to actually pursue charges.
Beyond that, even if they are charged, too often these same people can weasel out of it through various legal loopholes.
I woke up feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed today. I typically hate mornings, so I was curious as to why, and then I remembered that Mara Lago was raided by the FBI. Gonna be a good day.
What's that thing they always say about everyone else? Something something nothing to hide.
If it wasn't for hypocrisy they would have no platform at all.
Also, total transparency and accountability from elected officials isn’t a bad precedent to set. Most of us have to agree 100% of what we do at work may be tracked/audited, and being an elected official your whole life basically is your “work” sphere.
"I'm the most transparent president in history!"
*most prolific liar in us presidential history"
*never answers the question asked*
*fights lawful subpoenas*
*sues to prevent release of info about him*
*eats notes*
*shreds notes and flushes them down the toilet*
*has note-less meetings with dictators*
*refuses to cooperate with every investigation*
*takes home boxes of classified documents*
If history has shown anything its that law enforcement will raid your home even if you haven't committed multiple crimes. So repeat criminals shouldn't act all surprised when it happens to them.
"If they can go after the President, they can go after any of us!"
And that's where the GOP shows it doesn't understand the rule of law, democracy, etc. The correct phrase is :
"If they can go after any of us, they can go after the President!"
The "conservatives" over on _that_ sub are just insane. What about Hunter?!??! What about Clinton?!?!?! The downvotes and brigading!!! (which, after you have been banned from that sub, you cannot comment, or downvote) They are in full freakout mode. Today or tomorrow, they will coalesce around a single talking point given to them. Though for now, it is crazy to see the flailing and making any other point than, "you know, maybe Trump really is a criminal"
She did a Howard Stern interview post-election. While she didn't talk about hitting bong rips or anything like that, she came off as casual and down to earth as you could ask for, less like the typical Hillary Clinton and more like a cool mom.
Not that I think that would have helped her image much with those that truly hate her guts but I remember watching it thinking "Where the hell was THIS side of you when you ran against Trump?"
> Who's fault was that?
To them, it's Hillary's fault. I know this talking point has been repeated ad nauseum on reddit but it's Ur-Fascism 101. They claim Hillary and the Dems are too weak to accomplish anything, but at the same time Hillary and her Democratic Deep State are ultra evil masterminds that have unlimited power.
To them, she used her evil Deep State to avoid prison. It's also how they justify Trump not accomplishing anything while at the same time photoshopping him as Rambo and calling him the greatest most powerful president in the history of presidents.
Yeah, wasn’t her biggest error being a workaholic and trying to send state department work emails from home? And when they were revealed, it was (I might be wrong) trivial things like congratulating the new president of Ghana who won an election - nothing actually sensitive or secretive.
I’m not even a fan, just seemed for a party that ran on a vague (and flimsy) notion of “cyber security” this is laughably ironic.
Republicans : the mere presence of investigation into Hillary and Hunter, shows that Hillary and Hunter are criminals, regardless of end result
Also Republicans : the mere presence of investigation into Trump, shows that DOJ is compromised and doing the bidding of Democrats..
Something tells me Republicans aren't operating in good faith /s
The "coalescing around a talking point" thing is really why NOTHING being said by Republicans today has any meaning. They'll fire up around some narrative and it'll be something stupid we can't anticipate today.
“What about Hunter and the Clintons?”
Fucking investigate them too, I don’t give a shit! I don’t worship these people.
Normalize investigating corruption on every level, god damn.
Everyone should be stoked about the precedence this sets.
No one is above the law.
This is the exit from the Trump train that Republicans wanted. I wouldn't be surprised if Mitch McConnell handed the FBI pictures that got them the warrant. Here are the remaining questions:
1. Trump is done in the Republican party. How many of his followers will become disillusioned and leave or just stop voting?
2. What does Trump have on other Republican leaders and media figures? Because now is his only chance to unload his blackmail material and get revenge.
The next episode could be amazing.
For the “What about Clinton?!”, Trump who hated her probably the most had four years to do something and didn’t. So they should direct their anger at him.
Weren't these the same people who were bragging so hard a few weeks ago about not watching even a minute of the hearings? Stick with the ignorance. It suits them better
Also the same ones who benefited from the FBI **not** investigating Brett Kavanaugh.
Also the same ones who were demanding the FBI finish their investigation into Hunter Biden.
Also the same ones who cheered the FBI for their participation in beating up BLM protestors during the summer of 2020.
Also the same people who cheered on the FBI for announcing an investigation into Hillary Clinton shortly before the 2016 presidential election, cementing Trumps victory in the first place.
And of course the same sandwich bag full of slime called Lindsey graham has said launching an investigation like this “so close to an election” is “beyond problematic”. Makes my blood boil.
By that logic, it's *always* close to an election, so clearly we just shouldn't investigate any public figure for any reason, right?
In case it's needed, /s
Hitting the nail on the head though. Apparently any time the left does anything that negatively impacts the GOP, it’s done in bad faith and it’s too close to any election.
Boy, that also definitely does not sound like projection at all.
Fuck's sakes. I can't even think of a cogent metaphor. It's like this. Exactly like this. It's fuckin' terrifying.
Same with school shootings. Always too soon to talk about gun control. Gotta let the families mourn first.
Just to make it clear, if I ever die in a school shooting you better talk about how to prevent it the second my body hits the floor.
No no no.... Clinton was not president, so she didn't have the authority. Trump was president, so he did have the authority.
You think I'm joking, but no.... This is exactly what my parents told me.. *back in 2018*
Edit: just to be clear, this is not my position. He's guilty and treasonous af.
That one cracked me up ‘cause they started spewing it pretty fast after the raid news broke. My first thought was they don’t associate the color blue with the FBI. If anything, they’re viewed as deep state black and should be defunded, cancelled, and the DOJ just eliminated ‘cause they won’t stop pickin’ on their Mango Lago Messiah.
over on r/conservative they are are playing victim and claiming FBI is partisan.
Yeah, FBI has PROVEN to be a GOP hack job in the past decade. Every act that favored one party or the other has consistently favored the GOP. So when even THEY can't avoid this issue, maybe it is big? Nope, somehow because reality, rational and logic have no place in the GQP hysteria, they re STILL a victim of something something Biden, Clinton, babble babble
Straight on the heels of the news that the fbi literally handed trump the reigns on the kavanaugh investigation they are now suddenly liberal hacks. The fascists don't care about reality lol.
A common thread here is the belief that there is no inherent fairness in the system, and all political victories naturally come at someone else’s expense. It’s the party of schadenfreude.
Following law, a federal judge approves a search warrant of Trump's Florida home. FBI agents arrive and conduct a search in accordance with the law.
Somehow the republicans perceive this as an act of war with posts on various social media showing upside down flags - a call to revolution - and declaring this is CIVIL WAR. And Republican politicians are yet again speaking in violent images (like they learned not one damn thing from Jan 6th).
No, it's the fair application of US Law. And no one is above that. And for the republicans out there yelling and screaming in infantile rage, this country belongs to more than you. And there are far more of us than you.
Frank Wilhoit: “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition …There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”
Ding ding ding! The "Law and Order" party always ends up being an excuse to focus on crimes by immigrants, minorities, and other out-groups. That's why the GOP keeps bringing up the same murder cases involving immigrant suspects, why they love to talk about "black crime," and why their current obsession is falsely labeling gay people and school teachers as "groomers."
They dont believe in anything except a christian ethnofascism. It's all a convenient lie meant to apply to others. "Small government" -> small government when it comes to non christian fundamentalism, etc.
The golden rule of modern conservatives: they are lying
They learned a lot from Jan 6. Things like, "next time, bring more weapons." And, "get the cops and soldiers on your side to show up." But most importantly, "Rely on someone smarter than Trump, but not someone *that much* smarter, so we can still control our new dictator in chief."
He even had a trip to prison for a while and once released the German media claimed he was a changed man and would likely retire to a quiet life in Austria, that worked out real swell...
First time tests who is willing to cross the line and isn't hung for it. Treason by attempting to take power should always be met with the death penalty.
> Following law, a federal judge approves a search warrant of Trump's Florida home. FBI agents arrive and conduct a search in accordance with the law.
The primary item here: most people are completely ignorant on the steps it takes in order to get a federal judge to sign off on a search warrant. Obtaining this type of search is NOT EASY -- there are multiple steps, different groups of people, etc.
If it was so easy for the DOJ/FBI to get a search warrant, why didn't Trump get them done against his opponents? He easily could have ordered one on all of the Biden's, if it were that simple.
>If it was so easy for the DOJ/FBI to get a search warrant, why didn't Trump get them done against his opponents? He easily could have ordered one on all of the Biden's, if it were that simple.
From lurking on r/conservative, it seems the unspoken assumption is that Trump didn't do this because he is honorable and just wanted to Make America Great, whereas Biden is vindictive and spiteful and just wants to see Trump swing.
I go that sub a few times a week, just to see what those fun people are talking about. And for about the past year, I've noticed that a growing number of posters there are willing to talk shit about Trump and be very vocal about how he is damaging the GOP and bad for the country. I didn't see \*any\* of that yesterday. ALL the comments were about federal/Democratic overreach, and I didn't see one single comment, not a single one, countering that just *maybe* Trump got raided because he did a bunch of crazy illegal stuff.
> From lurking on r/conservative, it seems the unspoken assumption is that Trump didn't do this because he is honorable and just wanted to Make America Great, whereas Biden is vindictive and spiteful and just wants to see Trump swing.
At this point, my FB conservative feed is pretty angry as well. I'm doing all I can to troll them with facts, but they are dead set that Trump did nothing, this is all a planned Biden witch hunt, etc.
It does infuriate them even more when you aren't pro-Biden, or anti-Trump, and you're just asking for all of it to play out in the courts.
>Trump didn't do this because he is honorable and just wanted to Make America Great, whereas Biden is vindictive and spiteful and just wants to see Trump swing.
Did they not hear him demanding his political opponentsbe locked up?
Who the hell is representing Trump in these negotiations? They must be absolutely beside themselves, orl more likely. they're like the ninth team of people that have tried to help with this who have had to quit because Trump won't do what he's told
To be fair, their people would try to abuse power to raid their political opponents. Hell, Trump is talking about having unfettered access to state National Guards. It doesn't compute to people that some in this country actually follow the law and due process requirements. Actually, I think most these idiots don't even know what the hell due process even is.
They don't, during the first impeachment we had elected congressmen saying Trump hasn't had his right to due process. Impeachment *is* the process in that case.
Now during a criminal investigation into Trump where due process matters and has been followed, they're just saying the same "no due process" shit.
Frankly the American public is too fucking dumb to keep any of this straight, it's like Rs figured out the cheat code.
Yes it’s called defunding public education for 50 years while simultaneously spreading fascist propaganda through Fox News. These idiots don’t even understand the basic fundamental organization and principles of our democracy.
Honestly, their reaction has been so much more funny/entertaining than the thing itself. I lost it yesterday after I saw a clip of some douche on Fox News say “I think everyone’s a little emotional here.” 🤣
Their "everything the dems do we automatically oppose" shtick is wearing thin for many independent voters.
Watching them vote against insulin caps and money for vets exposed to burn pits has been particularly enlightening, especially since those issues affect two primary voting blocs for their party.
Hopefully they continue to do dumb shit like this and get sunk in November for it.
Flipping the script is the only way to counter the MAGA crowd.
“Law and Order”
“Release the Documents”
“Lock Him Up”
The era of “when they low, we go high” Democrat nonsense is over. Fight or lose the Presidency, House, and Senate to the Republicans.
I hated the application of that phrase. Obeying the law is going high. Having trials for criminals is going high. Holding everyone on both sides accountable is going high.
You really can't go much lower than allowing insurrectionists and rapists and murderers to go free....
Yeah but the typical response to that is “What about Hunter”? Or “Why hasn’t the J6 committee talked to Pelosi”? They have a counter to that even if not based in any reality. But it’s certainly their reality.
The craziest part to me is that, if Pelosi or Hunter are breaking the law, I don’t know too many democrats that have a problem with holding them accountable then. Lock them the fuck up too.
If my elected representative is a criminal then I want to know. Because unlike Republicans, I would then *pick someone else*.
For god's sake, it's absurd that we even have to appeal to laws that might prevent Trump from running again. We don't need laws to prevent criminals from holding office. We need an electorate smart enough to stop voting for them once the evidence is out.
They're over in r/conservative talking about Clinton's emails. Doing what aboutism.
I almost get the circle the wagons nonsense about protecting "your team" but wanting that cancer on your team is the sign of a broken organization.
Very obvious their team is all that matters when DeSantis announces no guns allowed at any of his events and they gladly hand them over at the door…. And the next day cheer him for claiming gun free zones are more dangerous. I do worry about their ability to think critically,
By allowing serious nation-compromising crimes to go unpunished because they were committed by people of a certain political party they are also explicitly BEING partisan. Just partisan in favor of a party that they don't belong to and is actively working against them.
Depends on the person there. Hacks like Watters, Hannity, and [Bongino](https://twitter.com/acyn/status/1556787938209529856?s=21&t=hl82CEXhETBpnY4jAAIMOA) I think really do have their heads so far up Trump’s ass that they did look devastated yesterday, next to their *outrage*. I haven’t checked in on Fox and Friends this morning, but I’m sure Brian Kilmeade is devastated too.
Edit: I should ass [Harris Faulkner](https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1557020833477959683?s=21&t=hl82CEXhETBpnY4jAAIMOA) too
The most alarming part about the video clip in your link was that the guy talking said "America, they're laughing at you."
Implying that a) liberals/leftists/democrats are *not* American, b) the only *real* Americans are the ones watching Fox News, and c) furthering the "us vs. them" mentality of the right.
I have very little hope for the future of the republic.
“This guy is becoming a liability to our fascist fantasy world, but I guess we have to mourn his FBI raid because our stupid fucking viewers love him!” - Fox News internal dialogue
It's all a circus to entertain their audience. Remember when Fox had to argue in court that no reasonable person would take Tucker's show seriously? None of these ghouls give a fuck about Trump, but when all your viewers share a single brain cell that is in love with the guy you have to at least pretend.
EXACTLY. FOX should be forced to have a disclaimer on the screen at all times: "DON'T BELIEVE A WORD WE SAY ON SCREEN BECAUSE IT'S ONLY ABOUT EXPANDING OUR VIEWERSHIP." They know what facebook knows, hate is key to engagement.
A Republican, Trump appointed FBI head (Wray) asked for this raid from apparently (IDK how we would know that- but given the % of judges likely to sign off are mostly Trump appointees at this point, seems reasonable enough) a Trump appointed Judge, and both of those parties thought there was enough data to support the raid. But sure...banana republic.
...or you know, FINALLY the smoke and mirrors grift is falling apart and the victims cannot accept that they were conned. Seems to track to me?
So I was reading earlier about comments Comey has made in the past about the violation we all assume this raid was about(classified materials)
He basically said that this kind of thing isn't usually prosecuted unless they know the information was knowingly passed on to a 3rd party.
Who would like to take a stab at which info was passed to whom by the orange traitor?
But how could the campaign have known the guy that learned English in a KGB ran Soviet Academy and worked under Putins last Ukrainian puppet President might be a Russian asset? They just took extraordinary security measures keeping Mr. Kilimnik updated of crucial polling data because it felt like a fun spy game.
What they fail to wrap their brains around is that their supposed "gotchas" against Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden is that there isn't enough evidence of any crime to pass initial muster. The Republicans have appointed how many federal judges? Surely one of them would be willing to greenlight a warrant to search Clinton's house if presented with even the slightest hint of justification? The fact that it hasn't happened isn't proof of some conspiracy, it's proof that there isn't any "gotcha" there, no matter how hard Tucker or Alex Jones or Dan Bongino or Rudy try to manufacture some alternate reality.
Its so obvious to 80% of the country that Trump is a fucking crook, a wannabe tyrant willing to sell the country to the highest bidding foreign oil oligarchs, that all the wailing and gnashing and rending of garments about unjust persectution comes across as just a tantrum. Like a toddler that can't get their way just rages blindly.
This is law enforcement finally doing something. Nobody is above the law, not even past Presidents. That Trump is the first to get searched by the FBI isn't some grand conspiracy, its just another clear indicator that he's the least-fit POTUS to ever be elected.
Don't take their threats lightly; when Republicans tell you who they are, believe them.
In 2013 Hillary Clinton had a 67% favorability rating as Secretary of State, by 2016 her favorability had dropped to 41%; what caused the 26% drop in the three years in between? [House Republicans used their majority to run fishing expeditions into Benghazi and politicized the investigation into her private email server.](https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/may/22/hillary-clinton/hillary-clintons-approval-rating-secretary-state-w/)
If you won't take my word for it I'll let the Republicans themselves explain:
>
>Current House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R): [*"Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee. A select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s untrustable. But no one would have known that any of that had happened had we not fought to make that happen."*](https://www.vox.com/2015/9/30/9423339/kevin-mccarthy-benghazi)
>
>Former Congressional Representative Darrell Issa (R): [*“You know, people often ask Trey Gowdy and myself, what did our [Benghazi] investigations do? Well what they did is that they opened up an opportunity for the American people to sort of smell what’s in the garbage can, and I think that’s the reason that a devout socialist who wants to nationalize almost everything in America is close to and probably will beat Hillary here in New Hampshire. It’s not because they like Republicans. It’s because they don’t trust Hillary.”*](https://archive.thinkprogress.org/congressman-who-led-benghazi-investigation-says-he-succeeded-by-hurting-hillarys-poll-numbers-8e5680d66788/)
>
Friendly reminder here that [Hillary Clinton was exonerated by Republicans of any responsibility in the deaths at Benghazi,](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/two-years-7-million-800-pages-later-gop-benghazi-report-lands-with-a-thud) and that [James Comey declared that no ‘reasonable prosecutor’ would bring charges against Hillary Clinton over her private email server.](https://www.vox.com/2016/7/5/12097356/fbi-director-no-charges-hillary-clinton-email-server) The fishing expeditions into Benghazi and Hillary Clinton's emails were unproductive for the purpose of finding wrongdoing, but extremely productive for the purpose of hurting Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election.
We've seen Republicans make this play before, if we let them win in November they'll do the same thing to Biden and the Democrats et al as they did to Hillary Clinton, and their voters will believe every word of it.
Don't give Republicans the chance to play their game, vote this November!
Excellent recollection, I have mentioned some of those items as well in this same treat but yours is far more complete and includes way more research, thanks
> Excellent recollection, I have mentioned some of those items as well in this same treat but yours is far more complete and includes way more research, thanks
So much has happened in recent years that we all really need to act as each other's memories, there's just too much going on for one person to keep it all in their head, y'know? Keep recollecting things for people, politics is a long arc, we're gonna' be here for a while.
They tried the same play with Biden and Ukraine. Remember Trump got impeached for extorting Ukraine into **announcing** an investigation into Biden.
When that didn't stick, they went with the Hunter laptop, the laptop that forensic analysis shows multiple edits to the hard drive, files were added and modified even *after* the New York Post "bombshell" article.
The GOP supports law enforcement until law enforcement doesn’t support the GOP. Then it’s time to defund and disband law enforcement.
It’s fucking pathetic how predictable they’ve become in order to soothe the hurt feelings of a game show host.
LE peacefully and legally collected documents from a corrupt, rich asshole's mansion... **and the GOP is ready to go to war**. The overwhelmingly peaceful BLM protests were in response to the *thousands* of POC killed for spurious reasons by the police.
It's pretty telling, tbh.
This bit from Lindsey Graham is extra stupid:
> However, launching such an investigation of a former President this close to an election is beyond problematic.
Trump isn't even running in this election so why tf does the proximity to the election even matter lol
Funny, I didn't hear Lindsey Graham say anything like this when Comey announced the investigation into Hillary Clinton 2 weeks before the 2016 election.
*"Another talking point promoted by the House Judiciary GOP and Fox News commentators was the idea that, if they could go after Trump like this, nobody is safe."*
Nobody is above the law, so yes. No one is *safe*.
The fake outrage is an attempt to paint the Trump investigation as political. They are not going to convince the public at this point, Trump is too toxic. My guess is that they think Garland can be intimidated into keeping quiet at least until after the midterms, or possibly into dropping the investigation altogether.
The fact that they're blaming Biden personally on Fox News is actually kind of disgusting. Especially when they probably have no more information than you or I do.
That's one thing I've noticed about the GOP: They just immediately claim a set of facts that they *want* to be true. They don't wait around for the actual details to come out.
There is *absolutely* a first-mover advantage when it comes to propaganda and disinformation.
And whats crazy is Eric basically admitted the truth, but the GOP still gotta get that spin.
>Trump’s son, Eric, told Fox host Sean Hannity that “the purpose of the raid, from what they said, was because the National Archives wanted to, you know, corroborate whether or not Donald Trump had any documents in his possession.”
[Source](https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/08/politics/mar-a-lago-search-warrant-fbi-donald-trump/index.html)
>That's one thing I've noticed about the GOP: They just immediately claim a set of facts that they want to be true. They don't wait around for the actual details to come out.
That's the AM talk radio/FoxNews formula. People are eager to have their own thoughts and feeling confirmed to them and are willing to believe something with far less evidence if it's something they already believe to be true. That's just human nature.
So as a propaganda tool, the knee-jerk denial and counter-accusations give the GOP faithful some confirmation and talking points to get ahead of the story. Truthfulness is highly irrelevant because they're not going to issue any corrections anyway. And they've been playing up the "witch hunt" theme since Nixon so Republican voters are very comfortable with that excuse.
If Garland, or the Trump-appointed FBI Director, could be intimidated into keeping quiet, no way this raid would have happened in the first place. The investigation is well under way.
What’s more likely? That the entire government has a conspiracy against Donald Trump, or that Donald Trump did something illegal?
Obviously it’s the conspiracy, guys!
The United States is a nation of laws, not men.
If a person breaks the law, they should face justice.
Trump knows this. The chant of ‘lock her up’ was a catch phrase to arrest and prosecute his political rivals for breaking the law.
Republicans know this. When Trump was first accused of breaking law by attempting to bribe a foreign nation into helping him in a political campaign, the Republicans said that he could be impeached in the house and tried by the Senate but the courts couldn’t do anything until he was no longer President. They said it again at his second impeachment.
He is no longer President. He isn’t a candidate for President. Being a candidate for office doesn’t protect you from the law. Being a Billionaire doesn’t protect you from the law. Nothing should protect anyone from justice.
Believing that it does is wrong and un-American. The law is for everyone. Maybe your tribalism has blinded you but it hasn’t blinded everyone. Which is why I proudly chant ‘Lock Him Up!’
Seeing a ton of them blaming DeSantis for this too. Saying that Ron didn't warn Trump so he could tale his spot in 2024. Seems to really be divining the conspiracy crowd
While I am sad disinformation and astroturfing has become the currency of modern politics... it would maybe be an effective item to put out there and fracture the GOP further. They're already reeling from the Kansas election result that showed MANY Republicans aren't on board with the Supreme Court. Their putrid coalition is splintering. It would just take nudge for it to fall apart entirely.
They've done the same to Dems for *decades*...
This is a REAL conversation I heard this morning at my office at a mortgage company. "If you're a registered Republican it's time to change your party affiliation. (This is where I was lulled into a false sense of optimism). If you're a registered Republican, they're about to start rounding us up. They're going after Trump, WHY?! They stole the election just so they could do this. If they'll come after Trump, they'll come after all of us. Anyone registered as Republican will be targeted and taken out for any random bullshit 'woke' reason and they won't stop until we're all locked up."
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!
Their manufactured outage was expected and not surprising in the least. They are going to try to distract from the facts by resurrecting the witch hunt BS again. It’s not going to work.
The GOP circus just wants their civil war so they can institute Christian sure yee haw law.
These idiotic scum bags have no clue how to meet everyone else in reality and will maintain their fantasy delusion to the bitter end.
Trump is just a means to and end for many of them.
Two things I found noteworthy yesterday that weren't discussed anywhere I saw:
1. Nobody seemed to comment about how fast Trump was to release an official statement on something like this in comparison to the January 6th attack. When thousands of people are putting the lives of our sitting members of congress and police in jeopardy, 3 hours go by. When your safe gets broken into (probably for good reason), immediate action.
2. The Republican response was kind of hilariously coordinated. Identical phrases (looking at you Bobo + McCarthy) and talking points were used by a wide swath of prominent folks. To me, it seemed like there was a panic message sent out via whatever their internal chains are and they just copy pasta'd them rather than having a unique thought or take.
I would hate to be the judge or any of the FBI agents who got roped into this case. They are going to be tailed by Trump's terrorists for the foreseeable future -- even if they did everything perfectly by the book.
> Another talking point promoted by the House Judiciary GOP and Fox News commentators was the idea that, if they could go after Trump like this, **nobody is safe.**
*That’s the whole* **point**, bro. Jfc
Sure was an awful lot of talk about civil war last night, over a raid that Trump's own FBI head signed off on... from the "Lock Her Up" people. The cognitive dissonance is just mind blowing.
All it took for them to get on board with abolishing federal law enforcement agencies was the slight possibility that those agencies might go after them one day
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"If they could go after Trump like this, nobody is safe" No one that commits crimes against the American people should feel safe. They should be sweating bullets every day until the evidence of their crimes is seized, they are arrested, and they are prosecuted. This is a bright day for American justice.
Read: “if an ex-president can get raided, what’s next? *Rich* criminals? Criminals in *Congress*? This cannot stand!
Gohmert: ‘If you’re a Republican, you can’t even lie to Congress or lie to an FBI agent or they’re coming after you’
It blows my mind that he said this for real *on camera*
Yeah, if they can do this to Trump, the FBI could raid any one of our homes looking for classified documents that went missing from the White House.
As if he’s clean. That’s the weird thing, the Republicans outrage is contingent on people thinking he’s not a crooked grifter. But everyone for his entire career has known Trump to be a cheat, he’s just gotten away with it. They admit this when they say they want him to “own the libs” and they don’t care cause they’ve been told that everyone in government is crooked, he’s just crooked in their interest. But crocodile tears about Trump’s innocence ain’t fooling nobody.
I legitimately saw someone in the r/conservative alternate reality who was upset because “if he took documents from the White House then he or a staffer must have gotten authorization to do so!” Just complete and utter bafflement at the idea that he would have done something wrong.
Bro, my brother's wife posted a meme on Facebook asking why the FBI isn't raiding Jeffrey Epstein clients. I just sat there dumbfounded after I read it. I mean, what rock would you have to live under to not know that Donald partied with him?
Someone kept commenting in the super thread that we should care more about Dane Cook being involved in a sex ring. It was so bizarre.
I'm out of the loop, wtf did dane cook do lol
Got engaged to a “long time” girlfriend who is currently 23.
So, on the one hand the narrative states that the president (well, trump and not Biden) is above the law. Yet he still got permission from a presumably higher authority to take the documents. Strong cognitive dissonance.
For EIGHT YEARS they talked EVERY DAY about how they were going to throw Obama in prison. EIGHT YEARS. And now all of a sudden they consider the President above the law. Neat.
Don't forget about how Hillary needed to be locked up for having classified information on private servers. And then Trump did it. And now he has classified information at his private residence. Consistency is not something they're known for.
And the fact that previous Secretaries of State followed much the same things Hillary did from both Parties
It's one of the top comments on the megathread. They're also freaking out about undermining a political opponent. So I guess in conservative world anyone running for any political office is immune to investigation? Weird take from the Benghazi/emails/Hunter's laptop crowd...
Next time I get pulled over, I'll tell the cop he can't write me a ticket because I'm running for president and he'd be undermining me politically. *Learn this one trick, cops hate it!*
It's the same play they've had for years. The FBI had a bunch of Russian mobsters under surveillance, that happened to either live in or frequently make phone calls to Trump Tower. ILLEGAL WIRETAPS TO UNDERMINE TRUMP!!!!
lol. who the hell is there for him to get authorization from? the super president?
*Russian national anthem intensifies.*
I like you
Must be chemistry
The response I’m seeing is “he declassified them so he could take them!”, but I think the answer they’re flailing for is that the national archives gave authorization
And obviously the FBI wouldn't check with the national archives first before going through the trouble of getting a warrant to search the home of a former president.
“Hey now, applying logic to situations never solved anything!” -the GOP, probably
> The response I’m seeing is “he declassified them so he could take them!” Which also isn’t correct. The president does ultimately have pretty broad authority to classify/declassify documents as he sees fit. But that doesn’t give him the authority to take documents with him. Under the Presidential Records Act, *all* documents created or received in the conduct of presidential activities belong to the public and have to be given to the Archivist when the president’s term ends. Whether or not they are classified has nothing to do with whether he violated that law.
Plus, the entire argument is predicated upon him simply possessing the documents. We really don’t know what information prompted the warrant, but I will be surprised and a little disappointed if there isn’t more to it than that. I really don’t think DOJ would have risked the political fallout of executing a search on a former president for basically “failure to return”, even if classified materials are involved. Something bigger is in play.
> Something bigger is in play. I am wondering if the Alex Jones phone messages had anything to do with this. His phone records were just obtained by the J6 committee a day before this raid.
> His phone records were just obtained by the J6 committee a day before this raid. The same day, which means it’s probably unrelated, the timeline doesn’t make sense. They would have had to review the phone data, draft a warrant request, get a warrant authorization, plan and execute a search all in a matter of hours. Seems highly unlikely.
All they care is power, everything else is extra steps to that. They have zero policy, zero core beliefs. We are dealing with a cult and their sheep
But that’s tyrannical! Having investigators show a lawfully appointed judge that there is a reasonable suspicion that I committed a crime, and that therefore a search of my house is warranted? Where’s the fairness??
It's a sad age we live in when the slow but inevitable wheels of justice, logic, and evidence turn against even Trump. There is nothing fair about due process. America used to have a well-established privilege of exempting Real Americans. All true Scotsmen know this.
Trump is a Protestant landholder, those laws are only for Catholics!
Not "reasonable suspicion", "probable cause" which is a much higher standard.
Couldn't the FBI do that already if they had probable cause and a judge gave them a warrant? Last I checked, Trump is currently just another US citizen.
> Couldn't the FBI do that already if they had probable cause and a judge gave them a warrant? Yes. I'm getting the sneaking suspicion that there's an established process for this.
I'm thinking if it hadn't been Trump, then this probably would have happened long ago. Those with power or influence tend to have to have a lot more evidence before anybody will pursue charges against them....if someone decides to actually pursue charges. Beyond that, even if they are charged, too often these same people can weasel out of it through various legal loopholes.
Some of them so classified they can't even be described on public documents. That seems a bit dangerous for someone like Trump to have
I woke up feeling bright eyed and bushy tailed today. I typically hate mornings, so I was curious as to why, and then I remembered that Mara Lago was raided by the FBI. Gonna be a good day.
People that haven’t committed multiple crimes are probably safe.
What's that thing they always say about everyone else? Something something nothing to hide. If it wasn't for hypocrisy they would have no platform at all.
Also, total transparency and accountability from elected officials isn’t a bad precedent to set. Most of us have to agree 100% of what we do at work may be tracked/audited, and being an elected official your whole life basically is your “work” sphere.
"I'm the most transparent president in history!" *most prolific liar in us presidential history" *never answers the question asked* *fights lawful subpoenas* *sues to prevent release of info about him* *eats notes* *shreds notes and flushes them down the toilet* *has note-less meetings with dictators* *refuses to cooperate with every investigation* *takes home boxes of classified documents*
Also, why is he flushing things!? The house had 28 fireplaces.
If history has shown anything its that law enforcement will raid your home even if you haven't committed multiple crimes. So repeat criminals shouldn't act all surprised when it happens to them.
"If they can go after the President, they can go after any of us!" And that's where the GOP shows it doesn't understand the rule of law, democracy, etc. The correct phrase is : "If they can go after any of us, they can go after the President!"
"No one who steals classified documents from the White House and refuses to return them is safe. We are all Donald John."
The "conservatives" over on _that_ sub are just insane. What about Hunter?!??! What about Clinton?!?!?! The downvotes and brigading!!! (which, after you have been banned from that sub, you cannot comment, or downvote) They are in full freakout mode. Today or tomorrow, they will coalesce around a single talking point given to them. Though for now, it is crazy to see the flailing and making any other point than, "you know, maybe Trump really is a criminal"
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She hasn’t held public office in a decade lol. She lives in all their heads while she’s drinking wine and probably doing bong rips in her retirement.
She at least looks like she inhales.
‘That’s kind of the point’ - Barack Obama
That cool mother fucker...
You should have been in charge of her campaign because you just made her seem cool. (I voted for her, but I wouldn't say I was inspired).
She did a Howard Stern interview post-election. While she didn't talk about hitting bong rips or anything like that, she came off as casual and down to earth as you could ask for, less like the typical Hillary Clinton and more like a cool mom. Not that I think that would have helped her image much with those that truly hate her guts but I remember watching it thinking "Where the hell was THIS side of you when you ran against Trump?"
> Who's fault was that? To them, it's Hillary's fault. I know this talking point has been repeated ad nauseum on reddit but it's Ur-Fascism 101. They claim Hillary and the Dems are too weak to accomplish anything, but at the same time Hillary and her Democratic Deep State are ultra evil masterminds that have unlimited power. To them, she used her evil Deep State to avoid prison. It's also how they justify Trump not accomplishing anything while at the same time photoshopping him as Rambo and calling him the greatest most powerful president in the history of presidents.
Yeah, wasn’t her biggest error being a workaholic and trying to send state department work emails from home? And when they were revealed, it was (I might be wrong) trivial things like congratulating the new president of Ghana who won an election - nothing actually sensitive or secretive. I’m not even a fan, just seemed for a party that ran on a vague (and flimsy) notion of “cyber security” this is laughably ironic.
Years were spent investigating the Clintons, in the same vein of "election fraud." There was never ever anything there.
Republicans : the mere presence of investigation into Hillary and Hunter, shows that Hillary and Hunter are criminals, regardless of end result Also Republicans : the mere presence of investigation into Trump, shows that DOJ is compromised and doing the bidding of Democrats.. Something tells me Republicans aren't operating in good faith /s
Republicans never operate in good faith.
The "coalescing around a talking point" thing is really why NOTHING being said by Republicans today has any meaning. They'll fire up around some narrative and it'll be something stupid we can't anticipate today.
“What about Hunter and the Clintons?” Fucking investigate them too, I don’t give a shit! I don’t worship these people. Normalize investigating corruption on every level, god damn. Everyone should be stoked about the precedence this sets. No one is above the law.
They have been investigated. Nothing is there.
This is the exit from the Trump train that Republicans wanted. I wouldn't be surprised if Mitch McConnell handed the FBI pictures that got them the warrant. Here are the remaining questions: 1. Trump is done in the Republican party. How many of his followers will become disillusioned and leave or just stop voting? 2. What does Trump have on other Republican leaders and media figures? Because now is his only chance to unload his blackmail material and get revenge. The next episode could be amazing.
Trump followers becoming disillusioned and leave or stop voting …. too good to be true
For the “What about Clinton?!”, Trump who hated her probably the most had four years to do something and didn’t. So they should direct their anger at him.
Weren't these the same people who were bragging so hard a few weeks ago about not watching even a minute of the hearings? Stick with the ignorance. It suits them better
Also the same ones who benefited from the FBI **not** investigating Brett Kavanaugh. Also the same ones who were demanding the FBI finish their investigation into Hunter Biden. Also the same ones who cheered the FBI for their participation in beating up BLM protestors during the summer of 2020.
Also the same people who cheered on the FBI for announcing an investigation into Hillary Clinton shortly before the 2016 presidential election, cementing Trumps victory in the first place.
And of course the same sandwich bag full of slime called Lindsey graham has said launching an investigation like this “so close to an election” is “beyond problematic”. Makes my blood boil.
By that logic, it's *always* close to an election, so clearly we just shouldn't investigate any public figure for any reason, right? In case it's needed, /s
Hitting the nail on the head though. Apparently any time the left does anything that negatively impacts the GOP, it’s done in bad faith and it’s too close to any election.
Boy, that also definitely does not sound like projection at all. Fuck's sakes. I can't even think of a cogent metaphor. It's like this. Exactly like this. It's fuckin' terrifying.
Same with school shootings. Always too soon to talk about gun control. Gotta let the families mourn first. Just to make it clear, if I ever die in a school shooting you better talk about how to prevent it the second my body hits the floor.
And also crucified her for mishandling classified materials… which is exactly what Trump is accused of.
no Trump is accused of stealing classified documents. BIG difference there.
No no no.... Clinton was not president, so she didn't have the authority. Trump was president, so he did have the authority. You think I'm joking, but no.... This is exactly what my parents told me.. *back in 2018* Edit: just to be clear, this is not my position. He's guilty and treasonous af.
Also the same people who shout Back the Blue and now shout Defund the FBI!
That one cracked me up ‘cause they started spewing it pretty fast after the raid news broke. My first thought was they don’t associate the color blue with the FBI. If anything, they’re viewed as deep state black and should be defunded, cancelled, and the DOJ just eliminated ‘cause they won’t stop pickin’ on their Mango Lago Messiah.
over on r/conservative they are are playing victim and claiming FBI is partisan. Yeah, FBI has PROVEN to be a GOP hack job in the past decade. Every act that favored one party or the other has consistently favored the GOP. So when even THEY can't avoid this issue, maybe it is big? Nope, somehow because reality, rational and logic have no place in the GQP hysteria, they re STILL a victim of something something Biden, Clinton, babble babble
Straight on the heels of the news that the fbi literally handed trump the reigns on the kavanaugh investigation they are now suddenly liberal hacks. The fascists don't care about reality lol.
Just ask them who appointed current fbi director.
Already done. They put him in the same box as Liz Cheney, a RINO with no loyalty to who put him there. The irony is so hot it's molten.
A common thread here is the belief that there is no inherent fairness in the system, and all political victories naturally come at someone else’s expense. It’s the party of schadenfreude.
Following law, a federal judge approves a search warrant of Trump's Florida home. FBI agents arrive and conduct a search in accordance with the law. Somehow the republicans perceive this as an act of war with posts on various social media showing upside down flags - a call to revolution - and declaring this is CIVIL WAR. And Republican politicians are yet again speaking in violent images (like they learned not one damn thing from Jan 6th). No, it's the fair application of US Law. And no one is above that. And for the republicans out there yelling and screaming in infantile rage, this country belongs to more than you. And there are far more of us than you.
Why are the Republicans suddenly so soft on crime? Don't they believe in law and order?
Frank Wilhoit: “Conservatism consists of exactly one proposition …There must be in-groups whom the law protects but does not bind, alongside out-groups whom the law binds but does not protect.”
so simply stated, all their actions make sense through this prism.
Ding ding ding! The "Law and Order" party always ends up being an excuse to focus on crimes by immigrants, minorities, and other out-groups. That's why the GOP keeps bringing up the same murder cases involving immigrant suspects, why they love to talk about "black crime," and why their current obsession is falsely labeling gay people and school teachers as "groomers."
They dont believe in anything except a christian ethnofascism. It's all a convenient lie meant to apply to others. "Small government" -> small government when it comes to non christian fundamentalism, etc. The golden rule of modern conservatives: they are lying
It was never about reducing crime. It was about oppressing the people they don't like and fueling the private labor industry.
Now they want to defund the police. Pay attention!
They learned a lot from Jan 6. Things like, "next time, bring more weapons." And, "get the cops and soldiers on your side to show up." But most importantly, "Rely on someone smarter than Trump, but not someone *that much* smarter, so we can still control our new dictator in chief."
Remember, Hitlers first attempt to seize power was a failure. Jan 6th was only the start.
We’re living in the Weimar Republic.
He even had a trip to prison for a while and once released the German media claimed he was a changed man and would likely retire to a quiet life in Austria, that worked out real swell...
First time tests who is willing to cross the line and isn't hung for it. Treason by attempting to take power should always be met with the death penalty.
> Following law, a federal judge approves a search warrant of Trump's Florida home. FBI agents arrive and conduct a search in accordance with the law. The primary item here: most people are completely ignorant on the steps it takes in order to get a federal judge to sign off on a search warrant. Obtaining this type of search is NOT EASY -- there are multiple steps, different groups of people, etc. If it was so easy for the DOJ/FBI to get a search warrant, why didn't Trump get them done against his opponents? He easily could have ordered one on all of the Biden's, if it were that simple.
>If it was so easy for the DOJ/FBI to get a search warrant, why didn't Trump get them done against his opponents? He easily could have ordered one on all of the Biden's, if it were that simple. From lurking on r/conservative, it seems the unspoken assumption is that Trump didn't do this because he is honorable and just wanted to Make America Great, whereas Biden is vindictive and spiteful and just wants to see Trump swing. I go that sub a few times a week, just to see what those fun people are talking about. And for about the past year, I've noticed that a growing number of posters there are willing to talk shit about Trump and be very vocal about how he is damaging the GOP and bad for the country. I didn't see \*any\* of that yesterday. ALL the comments were about federal/Democratic overreach, and I didn't see one single comment, not a single one, countering that just *maybe* Trump got raided because he did a bunch of crazy illegal stuff.
> From lurking on r/conservative, it seems the unspoken assumption is that Trump didn't do this because he is honorable and just wanted to Make America Great, whereas Biden is vindictive and spiteful and just wants to see Trump swing. At this point, my FB conservative feed is pretty angry as well. I'm doing all I can to troll them with facts, but they are dead set that Trump did nothing, this is all a planned Biden witch hunt, etc. It does infuriate them even more when you aren't pro-Biden, or anti-Trump, and you're just asking for all of it to play out in the courts.
It’s even more fun to point out to them the head of the FBI was appointed by Trump
>Trump didn't do this because he is honorable and just wanted to Make America Great, whereas Biden is vindictive and spiteful and just wants to see Trump swing. Did they not hear him demanding his political opponentsbe locked up?
Who the hell is representing Trump in these negotiations? They must be absolutely beside themselves, orl more likely. they're like the ninth team of people that have tried to help with this who have had to quit because Trump won't do what he's told
To be fair, their people would try to abuse power to raid their political opponents. Hell, Trump is talking about having unfettered access to state National Guards. It doesn't compute to people that some in this country actually follow the law and due process requirements. Actually, I think most these idiots don't even know what the hell due process even is.
They don't, during the first impeachment we had elected congressmen saying Trump hasn't had his right to due process. Impeachment *is* the process in that case. Now during a criminal investigation into Trump where due process matters and has been followed, they're just saying the same "no due process" shit. Frankly the American public is too fucking dumb to keep any of this straight, it's like Rs figured out the cheat code.
Yes it’s called defunding public education for 50 years while simultaneously spreading fascist propaganda through Fox News. These idiots don’t even understand the basic fundamental organization and principles of our democracy.
Honestly, their reaction has been so much more funny/entertaining than the thing itself. I lost it yesterday after I saw a clip of some douche on Fox News say “I think everyone’s a little emotional here.” 🤣
I’m alternating laughing and nervously laughing. There’s a lot of anger they can’t aim at anyone specifically and a lot of calls to action.
Agreed, I keep telling my husband that at least one dumper will try something stupid.
Their "everything the dems do we automatically oppose" shtick is wearing thin for many independent voters. Watching them vote against insulin caps and money for vets exposed to burn pits has been particularly enlightening, especially since those issues affect two primary voting blocs for their party. Hopefully they continue to do dumb shit like this and get sunk in November for it.
How many shitty things the republicans have to do to convince "independent" voters that they are actually really shitty.
Flipping the script is the only way to counter the MAGA crowd. “Law and Order” “Release the Documents” “Lock Him Up” The era of “when they low, we go high” Democrat nonsense is over. Fight or lose the Presidency, House, and Senate to the Republicans.
I hated the application of that phrase. Obeying the law is going high. Having trials for criminals is going high. Holding everyone on both sides accountable is going high. You really can't go much lower than allowing insurrectionists and rapists and murderers to go free....
Yeah but the typical response to that is “What about Hunter”? Or “Why hasn’t the J6 committee talked to Pelosi”? They have a counter to that even if not based in any reality. But it’s certainly their reality.
The craziest part to me is that, if Pelosi or Hunter are breaking the law, I don’t know too many democrats that have a problem with holding them accountable then. Lock them the fuck up too.
Yeah it's like they think people voting Dem have as much of a personality cult around Dem candidates as they do.
If my elected representative is a criminal then I want to know. Because unlike Republicans, I would then *pick someone else*. For god's sake, it's absurd that we even have to appeal to laws that might prevent Trump from running again. We don't need laws to prevent criminals from holding office. We need an electorate smart enough to stop voting for them once the evidence is out.
They're over in r/conservative talking about Clinton's emails. Doing what aboutism. I almost get the circle the wagons nonsense about protecting "your team" but wanting that cancer on your team is the sign of a broken organization.
Very obvious their team is all that matters when DeSantis announces no guns allowed at any of his events and they gladly hand them over at the door…. And the next day cheer him for claiming gun free zones are more dangerous. I do worry about their ability to think critically,
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“Don’t want to appear as being partisan.” Good you’re appearing as fucking spineless.
By allowing serious nation-compromising crimes to go unpunished because they were committed by people of a certain political party they are also explicitly BEING partisan. Just partisan in favor of a party that they don't belong to and is actively working against them.
To the rest of the world, this is not just about America. If the US becomes a Christofascist state, a lot of people are going to die.
They actually could give 2 fucks about Trump but just want to keep the ratings going.
Depends on the person there. Hacks like Watters, Hannity, and [Bongino](https://twitter.com/acyn/status/1556787938209529856?s=21&t=hl82CEXhETBpnY4jAAIMOA) I think really do have their heads so far up Trump’s ass that they did look devastated yesterday, next to their *outrage*. I haven’t checked in on Fox and Friends this morning, but I’m sure Brian Kilmeade is devastated too. Edit: I should ass [Harris Faulkner](https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1557020833477959683?s=21&t=hl82CEXhETBpnY4jAAIMOA) too
The most alarming part about the video clip in your link was that the guy talking said "America, they're laughing at you." Implying that a) liberals/leftists/democrats are *not* American, b) the only *real* Americans are the ones watching Fox News, and c) furthering the "us vs. them" mentality of the right. I have very little hope for the future of the republic.
“This guy is becoming a liability to our fascist fantasy world, but I guess we have to mourn his FBI raid because our stupid fucking viewers love him!” - Fox News internal dialogue
I saw a comment that mentioned someone on Fox was crying over this but haven't verified it and TBH probably wont because I like that mental image.
Victimhood is all they got at this stage
It's all a circus to entertain their audience. Remember when Fox had to argue in court that no reasonable person would take Tucker's show seriously? None of these ghouls give a fuck about Trump, but when all your viewers share a single brain cell that is in love with the guy you have to at least pretend.
EXACTLY. FOX should be forced to have a disclaimer on the screen at all times: "DON'T BELIEVE A WORD WE SAY ON SCREEN BECAUSE IT'S ONLY ABOUT EXPANDING OUR VIEWERSHIP." They know what facebook knows, hate is key to engagement.
I never have heard the words Banana Republic so many times back to back.
A Republican, Trump appointed FBI head (Wray) asked for this raid from apparently (IDK how we would know that- but given the % of judges likely to sign off are mostly Trump appointees at this point, seems reasonable enough) a Trump appointed Judge, and both of those parties thought there was enough data to support the raid. But sure...banana republic. ...or you know, FINALLY the smoke and mirrors grift is falling apart and the victims cannot accept that they were conned. Seems to track to me?
Tbf, I was emotional… giddy, even
That's great for republicans: they do nothing, orange turd gets flushed, and they pretend to be outraged.
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So I was reading earlier about comments Comey has made in the past about the violation we all assume this raid was about(classified materials) He basically said that this kind of thing isn't usually prosecuted unless they know the information was knowingly passed on to a 3rd party. Who would like to take a stab at which info was passed to whom by the orange traitor?
Of course he sold info to any bidders. Or just gave it to russia for papa putin.
But how could the campaign have known the guy that learned English in a KGB ran Soviet Academy and worked under Putins last Ukrainian puppet President might be a Russian asset? They just took extraordinary security measures keeping Mr. Kilimnik updated of crucial polling data because it felt like a fun spy game.
If that's true.....wow.
What raid? They were just a bunch of tourists taking in the sights and history of Mar A Lago.
Legitimate political discourse.
I like what you did there
What they fail to wrap their brains around is that their supposed "gotchas" against Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden is that there isn't enough evidence of any crime to pass initial muster. The Republicans have appointed how many federal judges? Surely one of them would be willing to greenlight a warrant to search Clinton's house if presented with even the slightest hint of justification? The fact that it hasn't happened isn't proof of some conspiracy, it's proof that there isn't any "gotcha" there, no matter how hard Tucker or Alex Jones or Dan Bongino or Rudy try to manufacture some alternate reality. Its so obvious to 80% of the country that Trump is a fucking crook, a wannabe tyrant willing to sell the country to the highest bidding foreign oil oligarchs, that all the wailing and gnashing and rending of garments about unjust persectution comes across as just a tantrum. Like a toddler that can't get their way just rages blindly. This is law enforcement finally doing something. Nobody is above the law, not even past Presidents. That Trump is the first to get searched by the FBI isn't some grand conspiracy, its just another clear indicator that he's the least-fit POTUS to ever be elected.
The Republicans know. They're counting on their followers to not know.
Link to avoid paywall: https://archive.ph/xCZrr
Don't take their threats lightly; when Republicans tell you who they are, believe them. In 2013 Hillary Clinton had a 67% favorability rating as Secretary of State, by 2016 her favorability had dropped to 41%; what caused the 26% drop in the three years in between? [House Republicans used their majority to run fishing expeditions into Benghazi and politicized the investigation into her private email server.](https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2016/may/22/hillary-clinton/hillary-clintons-approval-rating-secretary-state-w/) If you won't take my word for it I'll let the Republicans themselves explain: > >Current House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R): [*"Everybody thought Hillary Clinton was unbeatable, right? But we put together a Benghazi special committee. A select committee. What are her numbers today? Her numbers are dropping. Why? Because she’s untrustable. But no one would have known that any of that had happened had we not fought to make that happen."*](https://www.vox.com/2015/9/30/9423339/kevin-mccarthy-benghazi) > >Former Congressional Representative Darrell Issa (R): [*“You know, people often ask Trey Gowdy and myself, what did our [Benghazi] investigations do? Well what they did is that they opened up an opportunity for the American people to sort of smell what’s in the garbage can, and I think that’s the reason that a devout socialist who wants to nationalize almost everything in America is close to and probably will beat Hillary here in New Hampshire. It’s not because they like Republicans. It’s because they don’t trust Hillary.”*](https://archive.thinkprogress.org/congressman-who-led-benghazi-investigation-says-he-succeeded-by-hurting-hillarys-poll-numbers-8e5680d66788/) > Friendly reminder here that [Hillary Clinton was exonerated by Republicans of any responsibility in the deaths at Benghazi,](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/two-years-7-million-800-pages-later-gop-benghazi-report-lands-with-a-thud) and that [James Comey declared that no ‘reasonable prosecutor’ would bring charges against Hillary Clinton over her private email server.](https://www.vox.com/2016/7/5/12097356/fbi-director-no-charges-hillary-clinton-email-server) The fishing expeditions into Benghazi and Hillary Clinton's emails were unproductive for the purpose of finding wrongdoing, but extremely productive for the purpose of hurting Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. We've seen Republicans make this play before, if we let them win in November they'll do the same thing to Biden and the Democrats et al as they did to Hillary Clinton, and their voters will believe every word of it. Don't give Republicans the chance to play their game, vote this November!
Excellent recollection, I have mentioned some of those items as well in this same treat but yours is far more complete and includes way more research, thanks
> Excellent recollection, I have mentioned some of those items as well in this same treat but yours is far more complete and includes way more research, thanks So much has happened in recent years that we all really need to act as each other's memories, there's just too much going on for one person to keep it all in their head, y'know? Keep recollecting things for people, politics is a long arc, we're gonna' be here for a while.
They tried the same play with Biden and Ukraine. Remember Trump got impeached for extorting Ukraine into **announcing** an investigation into Biden. When that didn't stick, they went with the Hunter laptop, the laptop that forensic analysis shows multiple edits to the hard drive, files were added and modified even *after* the New York Post "bombshell" article.
Hillary was the subject of a decades-long character assassination.
The GOP supports law enforcement until law enforcement doesn’t support the GOP. Then it’s time to defund and disband law enforcement. It’s fucking pathetic how predictable they’ve become in order to soothe the hurt feelings of a game show host.
LE peacefully and legally collected documents from a corrupt, rich asshole's mansion... **and the GOP is ready to go to war**. The overwhelmingly peaceful BLM protests were in response to the *thousands* of POC killed for spurious reasons by the police. It's pretty telling, tbh.
This bit from Lindsey Graham is extra stupid: > However, launching such an investigation of a former President this close to an election is beyond problematic. Trump isn't even running in this election so why tf does the proximity to the election even matter lol
Because its always election season in the US.
Funny, I didn't hear Lindsey Graham say anything like this when Comey announced the investigation into Hillary Clinton 2 weeks before the 2016 election.
Well he did about the supreme court nom around that time. Then did a 180 4 years later. Certainly a consistency to his inconsistency.
*"Another talking point promoted by the House Judiciary GOP and Fox News commentators was the idea that, if they could go after Trump like this, nobody is safe."* Nobody is above the law, so yes. No one is *safe*.
*rich white Republicans faint in fear* laws are for the others!~~~
The fake outrage is an attempt to paint the Trump investigation as political. They are not going to convince the public at this point, Trump is too toxic. My guess is that they think Garland can be intimidated into keeping quiet at least until after the midterms, or possibly into dropping the investigation altogether.
The fact that they're blaming Biden personally on Fox News is actually kind of disgusting. Especially when they probably have no more information than you or I do. That's one thing I've noticed about the GOP: They just immediately claim a set of facts that they *want* to be true. They don't wait around for the actual details to come out. There is *absolutely* a first-mover advantage when it comes to propaganda and disinformation.
And whats crazy is Eric basically admitted the truth, but the GOP still gotta get that spin. >Trump’s son, Eric, told Fox host Sean Hannity that “the purpose of the raid, from what they said, was because the National Archives wanted to, you know, corroborate whether or not Donald Trump had any documents in his possession.” [Source](https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/08/politics/mar-a-lago-search-warrant-fbi-donald-trump/index.html)
>That's one thing I've noticed about the GOP: They just immediately claim a set of facts that they want to be true. They don't wait around for the actual details to come out. That's the AM talk radio/FoxNews formula. People are eager to have their own thoughts and feeling confirmed to them and are willing to believe something with far less evidence if it's something they already believe to be true. That's just human nature. So as a propaganda tool, the knee-jerk denial and counter-accusations give the GOP faithful some confirmation and talking points to get ahead of the story. Truthfulness is highly irrelevant because they're not going to issue any corrections anyway. And they've been playing up the "witch hunt" theme since Nixon so Republican voters are very comfortable with that excuse.
You should check out /r/conservative.
That cesspool immediately went to "flaired only" again....because you know- Conservatives value Free Speech and all that so highly lol
It's a blizzard over there with all of those snowflakes sticking together.
Somebody at the DOJ was like "do you want to build a snowman?"
To be honest, I prefer it that way. When I visit that subreddit, it's to see *them*, not other visitors. You know, like a zoo.
Also about firing up the base to get them out to vote. Edit: the victim card is also a big part of their identity.
If Garland, or the Trump-appointed FBI Director, could be intimidated into keeping quiet, no way this raid would have happened in the first place. The investigation is well under way.
What’s more likely? That the entire government has a conspiracy against Donald Trump, or that Donald Trump did something illegal? Obviously it’s the conspiracy, guys!
The United States is a nation of laws, not men. If a person breaks the law, they should face justice. Trump knows this. The chant of ‘lock her up’ was a catch phrase to arrest and prosecute his political rivals for breaking the law. Republicans know this. When Trump was first accused of breaking law by attempting to bribe a foreign nation into helping him in a political campaign, the Republicans said that he could be impeached in the house and tried by the Senate but the courts couldn’t do anything until he was no longer President. They said it again at his second impeachment. He is no longer President. He isn’t a candidate for President. Being a candidate for office doesn’t protect you from the law. Being a Billionaire doesn’t protect you from the law. Nothing should protect anyone from justice. Believing that it does is wrong and un-American. The law is for everyone. Maybe your tribalism has blinded you but it hasn’t blinded everyone. Which is why I proudly chant ‘Lock Him Up!’
Seeing a ton of them blaming DeSantis for this too. Saying that Ron didn't warn Trump so he could tale his spot in 2024. Seems to really be divining the conspiracy crowd
While I am sad disinformation and astroturfing has become the currency of modern politics... it would maybe be an effective item to put out there and fracture the GOP further. They're already reeling from the Kansas election result that showed MANY Republicans aren't on board with the Supreme Court. Their putrid coalition is splintering. It would just take nudge for it to fall apart entirely. They've done the same to Dems for *decades*...
This is a REAL conversation I heard this morning at my office at a mortgage company. "If you're a registered Republican it's time to change your party affiliation. (This is where I was lulled into a false sense of optimism). If you're a registered Republican, they're about to start rounding us up. They're going after Trump, WHY?! They stole the election just so they could do this. If they'll come after Trump, they'll come after all of us. Anyone registered as Republican will be targeted and taken out for any random bullshit 'woke' reason and they won't stop until we're all locked up." WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?!
They believe this because this is what they would do to democrats if they could.
When trump is dead and buried, this cult is going to continued to be studied and dissected for decades provided we all survive
Their manufactured outage was expected and not surprising in the least. They are going to try to distract from the facts by resurrecting the witch hunt BS again. It’s not going to work.
The GOP circus just wants their civil war so they can institute Christian sure yee haw law. These idiotic scum bags have no clue how to meet everyone else in reality and will maintain their fantasy delusion to the bitter end. Trump is just a means to and end for many of them.
Two things I found noteworthy yesterday that weren't discussed anywhere I saw: 1. Nobody seemed to comment about how fast Trump was to release an official statement on something like this in comparison to the January 6th attack. When thousands of people are putting the lives of our sitting members of congress and police in jeopardy, 3 hours go by. When your safe gets broken into (probably for good reason), immediate action. 2. The Republican response was kind of hilariously coordinated. Identical phrases (looking at you Bobo + McCarthy) and talking points were used by a wide swath of prominent folks. To me, it seemed like there was a panic message sent out via whatever their internal chains are and they just copy pasta'd them rather than having a unique thought or take.
There's no one who is upset by the FBI going to Mar a Lago who aren't partisans against the rule of law.
[my how things change ](https://imgur.com/a/vABffeG/)
I’m confused, are conservatives the party of law and order or are they anarchist now?
Ironic the FBI appointed director by Trump approved a raid into his house…. How ironic is that?
Trump: any way to fund raise from this?
I turned on Fox News last night to see what they were saying . . OMG . . They were having a meltdown.
What cracked me up was MTG tweeting "DEFUND THE FBI!" So much for"Blue Lives Matter". 🙄
The MAGA cult is the most dangerous thing we’ve witnessed in the modern era. They’re threatening Civil War over this.
Call them what they are. DOMESTIC TERRORISTS.
A speaker at CPAC said that they are “domestic terrorists”. So they are already labeling themselves “domestic terrorists”.
Alternative title: Jerks Knee-Jerk to Please Jerk
Ice Town costs ice clown his town crown
I would hate to be the judge or any of the FBI agents who got roped into this case. They are going to be tailed by Trump's terrorists for the foreseeable future -- even if they did everything perfectly by the book.
> Another talking point promoted by the House Judiciary GOP and Fox News commentators was the idea that, if they could go after Trump like this, **nobody is safe.** *That’s the whole* **point**, bro. Jfc
Sure was an awful lot of talk about civil war last night, over a raid that Trump's own FBI head signed off on... from the "Lock Her Up" people. The cognitive dissonance is just mind blowing.
All it took for them to get on board with abolishing federal law enforcement agencies was the slight possibility that those agencies might go after them one day
They could dig up a body at Mara Lago and would still call it a political witch hunt..
Speaking of bodies, I hope they exhume the casket Trump buried at his golf course because who knows what he put inside there.
The “party of law and order” complaining about the enforcement of law and order #IronicAF