In a recent Rasmussen Reports poll, 53 percent of Americans agreed with the Roger Stone statement that there is “a group of politicized thugs at the top of the FBI who are using the FBI… as Joe Biden’s personal Gestapo.” Over half of Americans think the bureau is turning into the Gestapo, and Director Christopher Wray still doesn’t see the need for reform. That includes 25 percent of Democrats and 70 percent of Republicans who view the FBI unfavorably.

The fact that we have two justice systems, one for Democrats and another, harsher one for Republicans, is no longer debatable. Anyone who disagrees needs to explain the difference in the treatment of Hillary’s mishandling of classified documents, and Trump’s alleged mishandling of classified documents.

The classified materials on Hillary’s bathroom server were verified as among our most closely held secrets, and were almost certainly accessed by foreign actors. The documents in Trump’s basement were reportedly declassified and were secured per FBI instructions, in a building guarded by the Secret Service. And yet no search warrant has ever been served on the Clinton estate.

The FBI has been a key player in the creation of our two-tiered justice system with its dogged pursuit of Republicans, and its willful blindness to Democrat infractions. The bureau has become the Democrat party enforcer, and the public recognizes it now.

Spare me the argument that the rot only exists at the top – that the rank-and-file agents are patriotic Americans faithfully upholding the law. Balderdash! If the vast majority of agents are working in compliance with their oath, where are the whistleblowers? All agents are sworn to defend the Constitution from enemies foreign and domestic. Doesn’t an attack on the constitutionally protected liberties of our citizens constitute a domestic attack on our system of government -- on our Constitution? The well-intentioned field agents should be screaming bloody murder. But except for a very few, it’s crickets.

Congressman Jim Jordan claims to have been contacted by a dozen or so (he’s being intentionally vague for obvious reasons) FBI whistleblowers. That is 12 people out of 35,000 employees. One out of every 2917 FBI employees are willing to come forward -- anonymously. Only .034 percent have voiced concerns to Congress about the state of the bureau. To put it another way, 99.97 percent of FBI employees are keeping their mouths shut, despite the oath they have taken. That makes them part of the problem. There is simply no evidence to support the claim that the rot exists only at the top.

Now that the FBI’s war on the Republicans has broken our criminal justice system, it’s time for a little battle damage assessment. Has the FBI redirected America onto a course that will satisfy them in the long term?

Can any law enforcement agency be effective when over half of the citizens it is charged to serve don’t trust it? Are people who don’t trust the FBI likely to help it with its mission to investigate crimes? Will they report crimes to an organization that they consider Joe Biden’s personal Gestapo? Will they provide witness testimony in support of arrests made by a Gestapo?

If people refuse to cooperate, is it going to take a grand jury subpoena to talk to any potential witnesses? What if, “I’m asserting my constitutional right to not comment” becomes the public’s standard answer to any FBI question, at any time? Canvassing for potential witnesses will get rather slow, no?

What will happen to the FBI’s conviction rate when 53 percent of jurors don’t believe the testimony of its agents? Will it be harder to achieve “beyond a reasonable doubt” when testifying agents are part of Biden’s Gestapo? If six out of 12 jurors don’t trust the FBI, what is the likelihood that one out of 12 will refuse to return a guilty verdict? Does the recent Whitmer kidnapping case provide any insight into where juror distrust leads?

What happens when half of the judges don’t believe the affidavits that the FBI presents to them? Will the issuance of arrest warrants, search warrants, or surveillance authorization be affected?

Will the FBI be able to obtain timely support from local law enforcement? Will requests for assistance be enthusiastically supported or ignored, denied, and slow walked?

How does the FBI’s future look when 25 percent of Democrat and 70 percent of Republican congressmen have stopped trusting the bureau? What happens when those numbers reach 50 and 90 percent? Will loss of congressional support create any risk to the FBI’s mission, funding, or staffing?

As effectiveness wanes, how many unsolved crimes will it take before the FBI is no longer relevant at all?

I’ve seen enough about the FBI’s behavior that I’m among the untrusting half of Americans. I’m a law-abiding citizen and haven’t even had a traffic violation in over 40 years. I am not a defund-the-police fool. But if an FBI agent knocks on my door to ask about a crime I may or may not have seen, my response is going to be the same as Michael Flynn’s should have been. I have nothing to say until I talk to my lawyer and find out what my legal obligations are. He will likely say that I have no obligation to say anything to agents standing on my doorstep. He’ll advise me that if I get a grand jury subpoena, I have to show up, but I still don’t have to say anything. If I don’t say anything, I’ll never find myself in a perjury trap such as the one that snared General Flynn.

If I’m summoned to be a juror at a criminal trial, the prosecutor had better have evidence that doesn’t depend on the integrity of FBI special agents. “Their word against someone else’s” becomes a much harder assessment when neither party is presumed to be credible.

The Whitmer kidnapping trial should be a warning klaxon to the FBI. Jurors are beginning to consider that the FBI, rather than the defendant, may be the guilty party.

The bureau has already lost the confidence of half of American citizens. That confidence will continue to tank with every

• 66 year-old man and his wife dragged out of their home in their pajamas at gunpoint
• Republican put in handcuffs at an airport for the filming pleasure of CNN
• Democrat crime dismissed as disinformation
• Crime created so it can be solved
• Parent targeted as a terrorist threat
• Standard of conduct violated

The reality is that the FBI can’t be effective without the trust of the American people. Its leadership and a majority of its field agents are rendering our “premier law enforcement agency” premier no more. When the bureau’s credibility and effectiveness craters, we’ll no longer have any use for it -- and those in the FBI will have only themselves to blame.

John Green is a political refugee from Minnesota, now residing in Idaho. He has written for American Thinker, American Free News Network, and The Blue State Conservative.  He can be followed on Facebook or reached at greenjeg@gmail.com.

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