When Donald Trump is in trouble, and he believes his interests are in serious jeopardy, he turns to a playbook that only has one page. It includes a crude sketch that calls for brute political force toward those who’ve put him in danger, in the hopes that he’ll survive by destroying their credibility.
The list isn’t short, though it’s certainly familiar to anyone who’s followed politics in recent years: Adam Schiff is the villain. So is Robert Mueller. And Nancy Pelosi. And investigative journalists. And don’t forget about the Jan. 6 committee.
The latest problem for the former president, however, is that it’s federal law enforcement that’s currently targeting him, and the FBI and the Justice Department are tougher to smear.
The Republican is giving it a try anyway. The New York Times reported over the weekend on his latest rally.
In his first rally since his home was searched by the F.B.I. on Aug. 8, former President Donald J. Trump on Saturday lashed out at President Biden and federal agents, calling his Democratic rival “an enemy of the state” and the F.B.I. and the Department of Justice “vicious monsters.” In an aggrieved and combative speech in Pennsylvania, Mr. Trump stoked anger against law enforcement even as the F.B.I. and federal officials have faced an increase in threats following the search of Mr. Trump’s residence to retrieve classified documents.
As regular readers know, the former president’s salvo began in earnest almost immediately after the FBI searched his glorified country club. Using his Twitter-like social media platform, Trump published a series of missives that accused the FBI of “abuses,” “breaking in“ to his home, being politically manipulated, possibly “planting“ incriminating evidence, and being “corrupt.”
As threats against law enforcement increased, he briefly seemed to change direction, telling Fox News that the national “temperature has to be brought down.” That didn’t last: Within hours of talking to Fox, the Republican promoted an article that said Americans shouldn’t trust the FBI. Two days later, he promoted another piece that referred to the FBI as “the Fascist Bureau of Investigation.”
Two days after that, Trump accused the FBI and the Justice Department of “atrocities.” He went on to write that federal law enforcement officials are “violently involved” in our political lives, adding, “They are destroying our Country!”
Last week, the former president called FBI agents “scammers,” which helped set the stage for his rally in Pennsylvania, where attendees heard him call federal law enforcement officials “monsters.”
Hours before the event, Trump published related missives, condemning FBI agents as “mobsters,” a “real threat to democracy,” and “out of control.”
But perhaps most notable was his Labor Day message. “Remember,” Trump wrote, “it takes courage and ‘guts’ to fight a totally corrupt Department of ‘Justice’ and the FBI.” He added that federal law enforcement is being influenced by “sinister and evil outside sources.”
The FBI has certainly had its share of critics, but at no point in recent memory has a national figure on par with a former American president accused federal law enforcement of committing “atrocities,” “destroying” the United States, and becoming a “real threat to democracy.” Yesterday’s missive went further, heralding those who have the “guts” to “fight” federal law enforcement, as it’s steered by “evil” people. It’s difficult not to wonder how some of Trump’s most inflammatory phrases — including a recent missive in which he asked, “How much are we all expected to take?” — will be perceived by his most radical followers. The former president reportedly complained recently that the Justice Department didn’t respond to his offer to “help” lower the rhetorical temperature. It’s likely that officials didn’t respond because there wasn’t much to say: Either Trump will stop pushing incendiary rhetoric or he won’t. That doesn’t require a meeting; that requires restraint and a mature sense of responsibility. The Republican’s latest rhetorical attack on federal law enforcement suggests he’s less interested in lowering the temperature and more interested in starting political fires.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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