Is it now illegal to be Republican?
Around six o'clock in the morning on January 25, FBI agents armed with police-grade M-16 rifles arrested a senior man in his pajamas. The arrest was part of an investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election, except Roger Stone's arrest had nothing to do with Russian interference. If an investigation that has yet to serve its purpose had never begun, Stone would not have been arrested. There are six indictments of former Trump advisers over the last two-year period, and not a single one stems from the purpose the investigation was formed.
Is the purpose of the investigation Russia's meddling at all, or are the investigators acting on behalf of the Democratic Party? At this point, are the FBI and DOJ just paramilitary crusaders fighting political opposition? Democrats may not have a candidate able to beat Trump, but they have government agencies assisting DNC campaigning, and who needs grassroots when you have badges, gunpowder, and brass?
Making the arrest of Roger Stone with terrorizing force was one thing, but tipping off CNN so the network could film it in all of its Minister of Propaganda-esque theater sends an even clearer message. "If you're thinking about supporting Trump's reelection in 2020, you could appear in the next filming of The Eternal GOP."
Between the makeshift FISA warrants and digging up dirt on President Donald Trump for the last four years, Democrats cannot hope to uncover anything new about the man that they can use against him when they pit their favorite DNC celebrity against him in 2020. Everything they had, they tried, and none was enough to beat him in 2016, but by enacting their own Nuremberg Laws that portray Republicans as criminals, they can scare off potential powerful supporters and advisers from Trump's reelection campaign.
With this modus operandi, it's no wonder that the average Democratic voter sees these indictments as a justification to continue irrationally hating everything the president does. Democrats get to point to them and say, "Republicans are so corrupt that they are arrested by the trainload!" They're unable to recognize the redefined role of the FBI and DOJ, which is giving them the broad powers and ability to be their own judicial review. Democrats celebrated the rifle-drawn arrest of a political adversary, and that should terrify you.
When fired FBI director James Comey exonerated Hillary Clinton of her direct criminal activity, Democratic voters no doubt felt as if they and the FBI were on the same winning team, even if the agency is supposed to remain apolitical. So when a GOP member is in audience with any Russian, it is much easier to proclaim the meeting as "influencing politics." Yet when the DNC singlehandedly funds the Russian dossier that began an investigation into a democratically elected president, it can just be called opposition research.
Michael Flynn, George Papadopoulos, Paul Manafort, Rick Gates, Michael Cohen, and Roger Stone may be guilty of lying to the FBI or "obstructing investigations," but no person related to President Trump has been accused of meddling with Russians in the 2016 election. Their interference with Mueller's investigation led to indictments and guilty pleas in much the same way that undesirables were always found guilty in the basement of Buchenwald.
The Nazi Party came into power in Germany in January of 1933. By the following summer, it was illegal to belong to any other political party. If someone was in violation of these laws, Kripo and Gestapo police would show up just before dawn and raid their home and arrest them, perhaps while they were still in their pajamas.
Connect with Taylor Day on Twitter @TABYTCHI.