A lot of things happened. Here are some of the things. This is TPM’s Morning Memo.
FBI Investigating Politicians Is Tyranny Now
First they came for the former presidents who had hoarded stolen White House documents at their Florida golf clubs, and I did not speak out….
On Monday evening, the FBI raided Trump’s Mar-A-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida in a search related to (according to the New York Times) the ex-president’s handling of White House records that he was supposed to turn over to the National Archives and Records Administration at the end of his presidency.
News of the raid has Republicans and conservative commentators’ heads exploding.
- First off, you might notice that Team “Lock Her Up!” seems to have a very different idea of what it means to investigate elected or formerly elected leaders now. After all, if they can hold an ex-president accountable for alleged crimes, if he can be subject to the rule of law like everyone else, imagine 1984 Orwell Big Brother!!
Defund The Police!
Police respecters and Back the Blue-ites are suddenly starting to sound mighty antifa-ish:
McCarthy Vows Revenge
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), beyond thirsty for that sweet, sweet Speaker’s gavel, wants Attorney General Merrick Garland to “preserve your documents and clear your calendar” because the DOJ “has reached an intolerable state of weaponized politicization.”
- “When Republicans take back the House, we will conduct immediate oversight of this department, follow the facts, and leave no stone unturned,” McCarthy thundered on Twitter, as though he and his fellow Republicans haven’t been openly plotting revenge probes ever since Biden was inaugurated.
Civil War Is Upon Us
We’ve been hearing the drumbeats of war from the right for a while now, particularly after the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, but seeing Dear Leader finally being held accountable for, well, anything, seems to have broken some sort of floodgates:
This Ain’t No Watergate Break-In
Trump fulminated that the FBI raid at Mar-A-Lago was no different than Watergate. Oh, please:
Oh, Stop With The Handwringing Already
Bloomberg comes through with a classic that combines multiple lame political reporting tropes into one awful quick take. It has handwringing over how the Mar-A-Lago raid will play in MAGA world. It has horserace political analysis. It has bothsidesism.
Oh noes! It will radicalize Trump’s base!
But the federal probe into whether he removed classified documents from the White House will just as easily further radicalize his base.
This hurts … Biden?
The raid comes at an awkward time for Trump’s successor, Joe Biden …
Waves hand at bothsidesism:
… the search of Trump’s home by federal agents will be red meat to those followers and ensure that America’s toxic political divide will only get nastier
Rudy G Exposed
Rudy Giuliani is desperately trying to get out of testifying to a Georgia grand jury about his Big Lie shenanigans.
The Measure Of The Man
From the new book by Susan Glasser and Peter Baker:
Trump: “Look, I don’t want any wounded guys in the parade. This doesn’t look good for me.”
Kelly: “Those are the heroes. In our society, there’s only one group of people who are more heroic than they are—and they are buried over in Arlington.”
Trump: “I don’t want them. It doesn’t look good for me.”
Pass The Popcorn
James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas faces two new lawsuits from former employees who portray the gonzo right-wing organization as drug-laden, debauched, and a hostile work environment. The lawyer in both lawsuits is a former general counsel to ACORN, one of Project Veritas’ earliest targets. O’Keefe denied the lawsuits’ claims.
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