#431 Musings Beyond the Bunker (Tuesday August 16)
Good morning,
EVEN THE INDEFENSIBLE WARRANTS DEFENSE
Last week I wrote about a couple of complaints regarding the ACLU. My good friend and former roommate, Mark DiMaria, felt I may have been unfair and/or unclear regarding my concerns with the organization’s recent statements. Allow me to explain…
The ACLU, in stating its mission earlier this year, sought to clarify that it will not take on cases where the “values are contrary to our values” or which cause “offense to marginalized groups.” My beef is that this flies in the face of the ACLU’s notable accomplishments in defending freedom of speech by defending those whose values may, in fact, be contrary to it—or our—values. If this stands, it diminishes this important and iconic organization’s mission.
THE ATTACK ON RUSHDIE
On the subject of freedom of speech, even that which we find objectionable, Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, was stabbed 15 times when he was to give a speech on, ironically, how the United States is a haven for writers.
A fatwa was issued in 1989 by Ruhollah Khomeini, the then-Supreme Leader of Iran, offering a $1 million reward for Mr. Rushdie’s murder. Mr. Rushdie avoided attack for 33 years, much of it spent under police protection or in hiding, for fear of attack by radical fundamentalist Muslims. But there on a stage in Chautauqua, New York, a 20-something American, who apparently was in contact with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and who was urged on through social media, attacked and critically wounded Rushdie.
Rushdie has been an advocate for freedom of speech: “What is freedom of expression? Without freedom to offend, it doesn’t exist.”
And then there is this:
“Nobody has the right to not be offended. That right doesn't exist in any declaration I have ever read.
If you are offended it is your problem, and frankly lots of things offend lots of people.
I can walk into a bookshop and point out a number of books that I find very unattractive in what they say. But it doesn't occur to me to burn the bookshop down. If you don't like a book, read another book. If you start reading a book and you decide you don't like it, nobody is telling you to finish it…”
These wouldn’t be bad words to post in every college classroom and auditorium in America.
ANOTHER ATTACK LAST WEEK
The other attack last week was on the FBI’s Cincinnati field office. The perpetrator was a Navy veteran who claimed to be at the January 6th insurrection. This traitor to his country urged a “call to arms” after the FBI executed a search warrant on Mr. Trump last week. We will read about these “calls to arms” increasingly in coming months, as Trump defenders and those who characterize the next election as a fight of good vs. evil spew hate and foment violence through their words and encouragement.
We are living in the world of “the upside-down” (to borrow a term from Stranger Things). We have a number of public servants doing their jobs being vilified and threatened with bodily injury because of the actions of a guy who was not doing his job. Let’s not forget that the search warrant was necessitated by Mr. Trump’s removal of classified documents from the White House and his subsequent failure to respond to subpoenas for the boxes of these documents, many of which were highly classified (and his lawyer lied that this had all previously been turned over). The warrant was issued by a judge after a showing of probable cause that a crime may have been committed.
THE TRUMPISTS RESPOND TO A VALID WARRANT
In a show of hypocrisy and lack of moral grounding, many Trump supporters have turned on the FBI. These people, many of whom might rightly decry calls to “defund the police” in another context now demand that we defund the FBI—for executing a valid search warrant.
Judge Reinhart, the judge who issued the warrant, is now under attack for doing his job. One 4chan troll wrote “That is a k***. And a pedophile … He should be tried for treason and executed.” “I see a rope around his neck,” wrote a user on the separate pro-Trump message board, according to Vice News. In response to threats on Judge Reinhart, the synagogue on whose board he sits has felt it necessary to cancel its services on the beach.
The far right claims that if this can be done to Trump, then no one is safe in their home. Of course it is not uncommon for warrants to be issued on probable cause. But I suppose we should all live in fear that the FBI may execute a warrant if any of us steal highly classified information from the White House. My bet is this fact pattern is unlikely to be replicated.
What we continue to discover is that there is no limit to the apologists for Trump and the knots they are willing to tie themselves into in justifying his actions, while attacking the actions of those seeking to enforce the law. Because there is no limit to their agenda, Senator Rand Paul is calling for repeal of the Espionage Act, which protects national secrets and one of the bases upon which probable cause a crime was committed. Marjorie Taylor Greene has called for Attorney General Merrick Garland’s impeachment and is selling “Defund the F.B.I.” merchandise. Some Republicans try to claim that this is the equivalent of Hillary Clinton’s sloppy handling of secret documents. But what they neglect to acknowledge is that Clinton was the then-Secretary of State, doing her job. Mr. Trump destroyed records and took documents from the White House after his presidency was, mercifully, over. They argue that former President Obama did the same in his handling of documents. This lie was immediately rebuked by the national Archives as false. Notwithstanding that denial, the twitter-verse is replete with republishing of this false claim.
Meanwhile, Mr. Trump, a serial liar, has claimed that there was a “standing order” to declassify documents when they left his office, that the FBI planted evidence, that the search was political in nature, and various other “what-aboutisms” about the transgressions of others and his continuing persecution and martyrdom.
Others in the alternative-reality world that seemingly has taken over vast swaths of our electorate and political elites have argued the raid was unnecessary and all that was necessary was to ask Trump for the files. Well, they did. He’s been asked for these files for nearly a year and has defied subpoenas. Yet, he has refused to turn over these documents that don’t belong to him.
RHETORIC LEADS TO ACTION
But the worst part of all of this is the rhetoric being used—rhetoric that was acted upon by the gentleman who attacked the FBI field office. Further violence like this should be expected, as that the right-wing Trump machine ignores there there were grounds for the seizure and instead uses increasingly incendiary language about “going to war” and attacking the legitimate acts of the FBI—whose director was appointed by Mr. Trump. Some have claimed the FBI is like “gestapo” or “tyrants” and have called on its destruction. These elected leaders and members of the right wing “media” no doubt must realize that they are fueling discord and encouraging violence—without justification.
The threat of future violence has raised concerns throughout the security establishment, with the Department of Homeland Security stating in a bulletin, “The F.B.I. and D.H.S. have observed an increase in violent threats posted on social media against federal officials and facilities, including a threat to place a so-called dirty bomb in front of F.B.I. headquarters and issuing general calls for ‘civil war’ and "‘armed rebellion.’”
Posts like this one, seen by 1.8 million people on Twitter, are concerning: “Our government has been take (sic) over by a Deranged Eunuch Class. It is up to us to displace them and dismantle their corrupt apparatus.” Steven Crowder, with 1.9 million Twitter followers, tweeted, “Tomorrow is war. Sleep well.”
All of this having been said, not all on the right are knee-jerk Trump defenders and are not prepared to wage war on the FBI. One of the more moderate, Representative Brian Fitzpatrick stated, “I have urged all my colleagues to make sure they understand the weight of their words.” Perhaps one of the first chinks in the armor of the solid Trump defenders. It’s unlikely to dial down the heat but it’s a start.
Rachel Kleinfeld, senior fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, noted that “The GOP’s choice to turn a probe into the mishandling of classified documents into a cause celebre is dangerous, particularly given Trump’s history of calling on private violence, mobs, and militias for support.”
We are living in dangerous times. I fear they may get more dangerous.
Have a good day,
Glenn
From the archives: