It has begun. This is another step in Trump’s efforts to tighten his grip on the US. The enemies list is real. Patel has already started investigating people for crimes they didn’t commit. The DoJ is working with him. What in the h*ll is happening to our country? Why is he going after people for doing their JOB?
Nina Jankowicz, MSNBC’s expert on disinformation and democratization, is one of those on the list. Right now, he is going after the more public people, former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan. This is from actions back in 2017, for heaven’s sake! I’m certain tRump can’t keep information about everything in his head, so it has to have been from Patel’s enemies list. From Nina’s article:
Political retribution is being normalized in America. How else can we interpret the news that the Department of Justice has placed former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director John Brennan (an MSNBC national security analyst) under “criminal investigation”? NBC News reports that current CIA Director John Ratcliffe made a criminal referral to the FBI regarding Brennan’s handling of a 2017 Intelligence Community Assessment (ICA) about Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election. The New York Times reports, “The bureau is also scrutinizing Mr. Comey for his role in the Russia investigation.” It’s the latest in a long line of Trump administration attempts to quash dissent by punishing the most visible “enemies” for doing their job, and we ignore it at the peril of our individual liberty.
Nina is certainly right. Today it’s Comey and Brennan. Tomorrow it’s Nina and those like her. In a couple of days, it will be us. Say someone in Agent Orange’s government decides to search the web for people “bad-mouthing” Trumplethinskin.
They’ll find us eventually, and then what? I don’t know about you folks, but I can’t afford a lawyer. So will I just disappear? And no one will be able to find me? Who knows in today’s world in the US? This is certainly not the country I grew up in. It’s horrifying. And yes, it actually gives me nightmares. Why have we been brought to this?
Retribution has been a feature of the second Trump administration. In an interview with Fox News, Sen. Ashley Moody of Florida went further. “This is not retribution. This is fumigation,” she asserted. “You have had radicals roaming in these institutions like termites.” Comparing patriotic Americans who did their jobs to pests that deserve to be killed, publishing lists of perceived enemies — these actions have consequences. Those targeted are dehumanized. We face growing legal expenses. We receive death threats, and as we witnessed in Minnesota just last month, such threats can culminate in extrajudicial violence. For us, every day in Trump’s America is a test: When will our constitutionally protected rights — to speak, to protest, to organize — be used instead to target us? How much freedom are we allowed?
Just as the denial of due process for individuals detained and deported by ICE normalizes the denial of due process to everyone, the pattern of politically motivated investigations that the Trump administration is pursuing is meant to desensitize us, to quell outrage and to stifle dissent, because the unspoken message is that there are no limits on which of us “termites” will be “fumigated” next.
Termites? Excuse me? What a crock. He can’t fight all of us, and I believe we can outdo the nonsense. But as I already said earlier in this column, what the hell is happening in today’s world in the US? And I don’t have an answer. I kinda wish I did, because that would be extremely helpful. But I don’t.
There’s more to the article. Link is up top, as usual.
Right now, we need to keep making sure our voices are heard. El Presidente Imbécil was embarrassed when his parade flopped badly and was drastically outshone by No Kings. We have another protest coming up this month. I hope we make it even bigger than No Kings, in a way that tRump can’t ignore and can’t bluster and bullsh!t away. Let’s Do This.
Thanks for sticking with me!
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