On Friday Donald Trump unleashed yet another blistering attack on the FBI and the Department of Justice, accusing them of committing “atrocities and unthinkable violations of freedom and the law” for having the temerity to enforce a legally obtained search warrant. Neither Trump or his rabid supporters have been able to point to any specific improper action taken by the FBI or DOJ as it relates to the recent search of his Mar-A-Lago home. Nor have they offered any justification for having classified materials at Trump’s home after his attorneys assured government officials that all such documents had been turned over in June in response to a subpoena.
Trump’s latest verbal assault follows a series of similar statements, including his claim that the FBI is “corrupt” and a “criminal enterprise.” All of this is, of course, designed to deflect attention from Trump’s own misdeeds and to put law enforcement on the defensive in its legitimate pursuit of evidence of criminal activity. But Trump’s strategy of ramping up the tension seems to be working. On Saturday a Republican candidate for Congress in Florida said if the FBI had attempted a search of his home as they did in Mar-A-Lago, they would be killed. “I wish they’d turn up at my home ‘cause they’d have gone home in a body bag,” said Martin Hyde.
As we have seen from the attack on the FBI office in Cincinnati following the search warrant operation at Trump’s residence, the inflammatory rhetoric spewed by the former president is placing the lives of law enforcement personnel in jeopardy across the nation.
Although Joe Biden has made a point of ignoring Trump’s outbursts, we may have arrived at a point of national crisis where he needs to explicitly call out Trump for his ongoing attacks on law enforcement. He should not only express support for the important work the FBI and DOJ do for the country, but call out the Republican Party for its failure to condemn Trump’s behavior in the strongest terms. Although the speech would not be delivered for explicitly political purposes, the net result would be to draw a clear distinction between the Democratic Party vs the Republican Party heading into the midterm elections. Sure, most Republicans have apparently decided to support Trump no matter what he does. But how many independent voters believe the FBI is a “criminal organization?”
A brief, dignified, but forceful speech by Biden in prime time could remind people why the nation decided in 2020 that a mature adult should occupy its highest office, not an intemperate egomaniac who hurls insults in every direction. And it will again make clear that the Republican Party has made a choice: to side with a serial liar and lawbreaker against the FBI. Since recent polls indicate that the vast majority of Americans still respect and have confidence in the FBI, that isn’t a good political space to occupy.