The election of Donald Trump has set off panic in the Harris/Biden government. Denizens of the FBI and DOJ, particularly upper-level apparatchiks, are reportedly seeking fast, pre-January 20, exits.

Why would powerful, selfless public servants, people whose only concern is for the rule of law and equal justice under the law, people who honor their oaths to honor and defend the Constitution and who live to protect Americans from actual criminals and real threats to national security, flee as from a pestilence at the looming second term of Trump?

Because a great many of them aren’t selfless public servants. Far too many are political thugs who have dishonored the traditions of their agencies, abandoned the Constitution, abused their power, and committed innumerable violations of law as they willingly, gleefully pursued the political enemies of Democrats/socialists/communists (D/s/cs) and the Deep State. 

They know Trump is really going to drain the swamp this time. He won’t need to engage in political prosecutions. There won’t be any “show me the man and I’ll show you the crime” communist barbarity. They know exactly how many actual crimes they’ve committed, and Americans can be certain government document shredders and home fireplaces are working overtime destroying evidence.

They’re erecting defenses, including the “the President has no business or authority to tell the DOJ what to do” defense. The media, most notably CNN, was pushing that narrative on election night:

Graphic: X Screenshot

Can that possibly be true? Is the DOJ, part of the Executive branch of government, independent of the President? Does he have no power to influence its operation and decisions? Are appointed and hired employees of the DOJ superior in power to the President? Let’s examine Article II, Section I of the Constitution:

The executive power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America. 

That’s all executive power. That’s power no other constitutional officer has. There’s no power sharing.  The President has complete power over the entire Executive branch, which includes the DOJ. He also bears ultimate responsibility and accountability for the exercise of that power.

As the screenshot by Mark Paoletta, a former Trump Administration official likely to have a role in the new Administration, notes (take the link to read the entire, lengthy X post), CNN and the DOJ is trying to gaslight Americans. There is no wall of separation between the President and the DOJ:

There are many examples going back to our Founding, with George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson vigorously directing prosecutors to initiate or drop specific cases. In recent times (after Nixon), there are many examples, such as Reagan directing DOJ to drop an antitrust prosecution against a British airline (over DOJ’s objection), and George H.W. Bush directing DOJ to move into overdrive to bring federal civil rights criminal charges against LAPD officers in Rodney King incident.

The President has a duty to supervise the types of cases DOJ should focus on and can intervene to direct DOJ on specific cases. He is the duly elected chief executive and he has every right to make sure the executive branch, including the DOJ, is implementing his agenda.

For example, the President could direct DOJ to significantly increase resources to prosecute criminals at the highest charging level and to seek maximum sentences, devote maximum resources to deporting illegal aliens, act against sanctuary cities who defy and obstruct federal law enforcement efforts, and seek restoration of death penalty in all possible cases for horrific crimes, including for drug trafficking and child molestation and rape.

It's reasonable to argue any President should avoid micro-management of the DOJ. Appearances matter, and Americans like to believe the DOJ, FBI and the rest of government are their hired hands, not political operatives bent on destroying the enemies of the party in power. They haven’t been able to believe that for years. Easily since the Obama Administration, the DOJ and FBI have been blatantly used as D/s/c Praetorian Guards. During the Harris/Biden years, they pursued Donald Trump with a berserk vengeance. They surveilled and harassed parents at school board meeting, harried Christians, sought to deny Americans their First and Second Amendment rights, lied to federal judges and generally ran amok.

That’s why they so fear the return of Trump. Their consciences—to whatever degree they retain them—are epically guilty.

As Paoletta ironically quoted Joe Biden—and innumerable other D/s/cs who so ruthlessly pursued Donald Trump, “no one is above the law.” Until Trump’s reelection, they knew damned well they were above the law. The law was whatever they said it was, and they wielded it like a blunt weapon.

There’s a new sheriff in town and he’s going to weild a legal scalpel to cut out the cancer. It can’t happen soon enough.

Mike McDaniel is a USAF veteran, classically trained musician, Japanese and European fencer, life-long athlete, firearm instructor, retired police officer and high school and college English teacher. He is a published author and blogger. His home blog is Stately McDaniel Manor.