Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Impressively dumb. Congratulations.

I really should read my own blog.

“I never thought they’d lock HIM up,” sobbed a distraught member of the Lock Her Up Party.

Spilling the end game before they can coat it in frankl luntz-approved dogwhistles.

Do not shrug your shoulders and accept the normalization of untruths.

Only Democrats have agency, apparently.

In my day, never was longer.

Conservatism: there are some people the law protects but does not bind and others who the law binds but does not protect.

“Can i answer the question? No you can not!”

“Squeaker” McCarthy

“Jesus paying for the sins of everyone is an insult to those who paid for their own sins.”

Putin dreamed of ending NATO, and now it’s Finnish-ed.

This really is a full service blog.

Bark louder, little dog.

Meanwhile over at truth Social, the former president is busy confessing to crimes.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

fuckem (in honor of the late great efgoldman)

How can republicans represent us when they don’t trust women?

Let’s not be the monsters we hate.

Second rate reporter says what?

The GOP couldn’t organize an orgy in a whorehouse with a fist full of 50s.

Republican obstruction dressed up as bipartisanship. Again.

If you are still in the GOP, you are an extremist.

You are here: Home / Balloon Juice / Commentary / Our Failed Media Experiment / Open Thread: Our Failed Major Media Confronts the Mar-A-Largo Raid

Open Thread: Our Failed Major Media Confronts the Mar-A-Largo Raid

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Blog favorite chewtoy, per expectations!

… The FBI calls the Secret Service and says, ‘Hey, dudes, we showed what we know to a judge and he said we could come to Mar-a-Lago and look for evidence of criming, so would you guys leave the door unlocked, OK?’ And the Secret Service says, ‘Sure, drop on by and stay as long as you like. We’ll leave some bottled water in the fridge.’ And so the FBI came to Mar-a-Lago…

… I did come away with a feeling that we’d all be better off if the media stopped hyping the “historic” and “unprecedented” nature of the events. The more these events are spun that way, the more the excitable people get ginned up to feel like prominent actors in a world-historical conflict. The Republican elite is more than willing to encourage them in their delusions of bloody grandeur. From the Washington Post:

“Merrick Garland, Chris Wray, come to the House Judiciary Committee this Friday and answer our questions about this action … which has never happened in American history,” [Rep. Jim] Jordan said on Fox News. “What was on the warrant? What were you really doing? What were you looking for?”

Bunk. This is an investigation into a possible federal crime. No legitimate aura of authority surrounds ex-presidents. The republic can survive the investigation, indictment and even the conviction of a former president, no matter what that old fool Gerry Ford thought back in 1974. But nothing permanent can be done about the reaction until someone or something knocks from a lot of heads the notion that every political defeat is Concord Bridge and that every pronouncement from their favorite TV news star is a message from Thomas Paine from beyond the grave. In 2016 (albeit with some help from abroad), the country elected a grubby little crook riding America’s longest lucky streak to be its president. Now the bill has come due.

This wasn’t a presidency, it was a burglary. And they got caught.

Reader Interactions

68Comments

  1. 1.

    Baud

    hot take industry has moved with incredible speed from “is wimpy, hand-wringing DOJ helping Trump’s 2024 comeback?” to “is heavy-handed, bullying DOJ helping Trump’s 2024 comeback?”

    QFT

  2. 2.

    Edmund Dantes

    Wrongfully taking classified government documents is a serious crime. If there is probable cause to think a former government employee has done so, is continuing to possess them in violation of the relevant federal law, and is refusing to return them, then it’s perfectly appropriate for a federal judge to authorize a search warrant to allow federal law enforcement officials to recover those documents, and to enforce the criminal law against the criminal who took and kept them.

    If this case involved anybody other than a former president of the United States, or more narrowly a former Republican president of the United States (imagine if Clinton or Obama etc etc etc), then nobody in the punditocracy would be putting forth some absurdly heightened standard for this raid.

    What’s most remarkable here is how internalized the concept of elite impunity has become. Noting that Al Capone was convicted of tax evasion is a cliche about how sometimes law enforcement will get a conviction for something less serious when getting one for something more serious is too difficult. But what that cliche elides is that the kind of tax evasion — massive, egregious, and intimately connected to other criminal activity — Capone engaged in was itself an extremely serious crime, and a perfectly legitimate basis for sending him to prison for a long time.

    Paul Campos nailed this pretty well. 

  4. 4.

    lollipopguild

    Trump saw being President as the ultimate grifting  chance and he was going to take it.

  6. 6.

    Super Dave

    @Baud: Thank you for enlarging my knowledge of chat TLA’s today. I’m sure I’m the only one here that didn’t know QFT is “quoted for truth”… I had to look it up. Gotta admit it’s a good one, and totally appropriate in this case!

  7. 7.

    MisterForkbeard

    …Didn’t trump make mishandling/retaining classified information a felony back in 2018? Punishable by 5 years in prison.

    I haven’t seen much (if any) discussion of this, which makes me think it doesn’t apply somehow. But if so: Trump signed a law which criminalized his own behavior, and his handpicked FBI Director has to authorize a search for that, approved by a Trump selected federal judge. Hoist on his own fucking petard.

  8. 8.

    Mike E

    [W]hen someone writes a responsible history of this era, the political media’s deliberate and willing participation in covering for a traitorous leader of a fearful and cowardly party should be a major part of the story

    Jesus Cassandra wept.

  9. 9.

    Keith P.

    “Mar-a-Lago being raided by the FBI and having boxes of documents seized is good news…for Donald Trump!”

  11. 11.

    Ken

    Let this be a valuable lesson for us all, especially Baud: If you happen to become president, before signing any bill into law, make sure that it doesn’t turn your plans for retirement income into a felony.

  13. 13.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I think some of his people were also talking about Obama at the time, because they kept trying to pretend Obama was still controlling the DOJ and ‘the deep state’ during the first few years of the Trump presidency.

  14. 14.

    bbleh

    I hope some actual facts begin to emerge about the MAL search, if only to refresh the conversation in the commentariat.  There wasn’t much to be gained from “historically X” and “logically Y,” and now it seems a lot of it is just yelling.

    One good place for the MSM to start might be pressing the Trump people on why they won’t release the warrant, instead of simply saying they won’t and leaving it at that …

  15. 15.

    NotMax

    Actually glad someone brought up Ford. To my (IANAL) mind, his issuance of pardon stands as proof positive that otherwise there is no refuge from indictment and prosecution for ex-presidents. The standard of proof may be higher but not so high a to confer immunity.

  16. 16.

    Jeffro

    I’m really tired of the snooze media running with the GQP’s takes on things (which frankly, is always the same take all day every day: “WE’RE REAL MADZ ABOUT ______!!!!1!”)

    Do they ever stop and think, “Hey maybe, just maybe, today I’ll reach out to some prominent Dems” (or hey even some Dem voters!) “and see what they think of the GQP’s latest scandal?”

  17. 17.

    Ken

    @bbleh: Someone noted that the Trump people will have not just the warrant, but a list of everything that was removed. They could be asked to release that as well.

    (Though given the media, the reaction would be something like “Sixteen kilograms of cocaine… Russian passports with false names for all members of the Trump family… twelve sex slaves… four human hearts….  There’s absolutely nothing here about classified documents! Trump is exonerated!”)

  18. 18.

    bbleh

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: @MisterForkbeard:  Or, as with so many things Trump, they weren’t thinking about the application or implications of the policy so much as the appearance of “toughness.”

    So much of the Republican Party, other than cutting taxes for rich people and large corporations, has been reduced to performativeness.

  19. 19.

    Bill Arnold

    From an old crookedtimber.org comment by a regular here (bold mine):

    The core proposition of anti-conservatism requires no supplementation and no exegesis. It is as sufficient as it is necessary. What you see is what you get:
    The law cannot protect anyone unless it binds everyone; and it cannot bind anyone unless it protects everyone.

    Rule of Law!

  21. 21.

    Scout211

    @Super Dave:I’m sure I’m the only one here that didn’t know QFT is “quoted for truth”

     

    *raises hand* Count me as one of the uneducated.  I always thought it was Quite F*cking True.  Same, same. But . . . different.

  22. 22.

    NotMax

    we’d all be better off if the media stopped hyping the “historic” and “unprecedented” nature of the events

    At the same time conveniently ignoring the “historic” and “unprecedented” pattern of criminality.

  25. 25.

    C Stars

    Jesus Christo I am so tired of this guy dominating the news cycle. I was just starting to think his (frighteningly effective) brand of social chaos was over–flood the zone with BS, etc. But Noooooo.

    He stole some sensitive documents and refused to return them or store them safely. The feds came and got them. We will find out more in a week or so. Why can’t it just be that?

  26. 26.

    Scout211

    I do wish that all of these “anonymous sources” would be ignored by the mainstream media until they get some on-the-record statement. But anonymous sources are all they really have right now that hits the sweet spot of breaking news.  Most of the reporters are being manipulated but they don’t seem to care anymore.  It’s a “source” so it gets published. And needing corroboration before publishing information from a source is now just a relic of journalism history.

    I know, preaching to the choir here . . .

  27. 27.

    jonas

    I asked this morning if Trump would actually answer any questions from Letitia James about the Trump Org’s raging tax fraud or just take the 5th.

    The 5th it is! 

    Afterwards Trump whines: “I once asked, ‘If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?’ Now I know the answer to that question,” the statement said. “When your family, your company, and all the people in your orbit have become the targets of an unfounded politically motivated Witch Hunt supported by lawyers, prosecutors and the Fake News Media, you have no choice.”

    What a little WATB. Well, with or without his testimony, hopefully James has enough at this point to bring the hammer down on his ample, corrupt-as-fuck ass.

  28. 28.

    mrmoshpotato

    @MisterForkbeard:

    …Didn’t trump make mishandling/retaining classified information a felony back in 2018? Punishable by 5 years in prison. 

    What are the 2018 Rethuglican-controlled House and Senate – chopped liver?

    Please give them some credit too. Also, BWHAHAHAHA!!!  Lock him up! – if he broke the law.

  33. 33.

    Lacuna Synecdoche

    via Anne Laurie @ Top:

    “Merrick Garland, Chris Wray, come to the House Judiciary Committee this Friday and answer our questions about this action … which has never happened in American history,” [Rep. Jim] Jordan said on Fox News. “What was on the warrant? …”

    Hey, Jordan, you know who can tell you what was on the warrant?

    Donald Trump.

    Ask him.

  34. 34.

    Mike E

    @C Stars: think of it as the media’s histamine reaction to their favorite peanut infused ice cream, or your dog rolling in the remains of a dead squirrel.

  36. 36.

    Ken

    @Lacuna Synecdoche: I suppose there’s no chance that the House Democrats would troll the Republicans, by issuing a subpoena requiring Trump to appear and release the warrant. Such stodgy sticks-in-the-mud.

  38. 38.

    Ken

    @Baud: I don’t suppose Biden would be willing to test out this “it’s unprecedented so we can’t do anything about it” theory by, oh, illegally arresting the entire House and Senate Republican caucus and the Supreme Court six, interning them in an undisclosed location, and pardoning everyone involved in the operation including himself. Such a stodgy stick-in-the-mud.

  39. 39.

    Barbara

    David Petraeus was prosecuted for wrongful handling of classified information that he probably also shared with people (his girlfriend) who lacked clearance.  Apparently, the FBI investigators were outraged that he was allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor instead of facing felony charges.

    It seems to me that the least the FBI could do if Trump was holding on to documents that didn’t belong to him, or sharing documents with people who shouldn’t have had access to them, is just go and retrieve them with what is in effect a court order in place.   That is a remedy that is narrowly tailored to the circumstances and, like, the epitome of adherence to the rule of law.

    I have no doubt these are the kind of people who, when they are stopped for speeding, seriously consider asking the police if they know who they are.  Fuck each and every one of them.

  42. 42.

    CaseyL

    Anyone who makes the effort to know the background of a story, or its context, should notice that about the best the MSM does is regurgitate conventional wisdom – which they get from their peers in the industry, and their sources (“access!”). IOW, very compromised.

    Mind you, not many people make that effort.  It does take some doing: you need multiple news sources  and a modicum of knowledge about politics, science, etc.  Which, come to think of it, our Media Betters tend not to have.

  43. 43.

    Redshift

    @jonas: Does anyone have a reference for who he was originally attacking with the 5th Amendment riff (if anyone)? It would be completely unsurprising if it was a target of a Republican witch hunt.

  46. 46.

    Scout211

    @Baud: @Redshift:

    link

    During the 2016 campaign, Trump had blasted aides of his former opponent, Democrat Hillary Clinton, for pleading the Fifth in the probe of her use of a private email server.

    “So there are five people taking the Fifth Amendment, like you see on the mob, right? You see the mob takes the Fifth. If you’re innocent, why are you taking the Fifth Amendment?” Trump told the crowd at an Iowa rally in September 2016.

  48. 48.

    Super Dave

    @Baud: I read the comments because I always learn something. The jackals here are so far ahead of me I consider this a master class, especially  when it comes to snark. Thank the FSM I found this place.

    I worked for a very eccentric owner who wouldn’t allow any TLA’s in our documents unless they were explicitly defined in the text. Old habits die hard!

  50. 50.

    Ken

    @Super Dave: I thought Baud meant Three Letter Agency, not Three Letter Acronym. I guess that’s an example of why you should define your TLAs!

    The reason I though it was Agencies was because some Republican representative (perhaps several)]pj was calling for defunding the police FBI, and later added some other federal TLAs to the list.

  51. 51.

    Kent

    From the Truscott article linked to above:  https://luciantruscott.substack.com/p/what-was-the-fbi-looking-for-in-mar

    There was a lot of speculation Monday night about violations of the Presidential Records Act and another federal statute which forbids removing official documents and materials and/or damaging them or distributing them to unauthorized persons. This is the federal law that was quoted all over the place because it contains the clause that any federal official found guilty of violating that law can be barred from holding federal office again. 

    That seems pretty significant.

  52. 52.

    Betty Cracker

    This WaPo article about the Disgraceland raid relies on anonymous sources, so there’s a credibility flag, but the actions it describes are on brand, e.g., Trump squirreling away protected material, Trump and flunkies making a show of cooperating when called on it but holding items back, exhausting the patience of the government officials trying to recover the docs, etc., which led to the search warrant.

    Until I hear evidence to the contrary, I’m going to assume this investigation is about what it appears to be about, i.e., misappropriation of government documents and subsequent refusal to return them. That’s a crime, and I am fine with the DOJ investigating people when evidence suggests a crime was committed and prosecuting them if enough evidence is collected to prove the crime. Even if they used to be POTUS.

    It doesn’t have to be anything other than that, IMO. That’s how it’s supposed to work.

  54. 54.

    lowtechcyclist

    “Solid but minor cases,” McMegan?  It’s a felony.  Five years in the slammer.

    And as has been mentioned here several times, Trump signed into law the bill that elevated it from a misdemeanor.

    “Lock her up!!” they all chanted.  Oops, got those pronouns wrong.  They laughed about pronouns. The pronouns are laughing right back.

  55. 55.

    Ceci n est pas mon nym

    @prostratedragon: but then I also thought TFG stood for “the former guy.”

    It does, at least as I use it. Based on Biden’s use of that phrase.

    If somebody chooses to read it as “That F-ing Guy” they can, and I wouldn’t object to that interpretation. But “The Former Guy” is my only intent.

    I struggled for the longest time with TFW, often attached to memes. I always read it as “Too F-ing Weird”. Finally found out it means “That Feeling When…”

    (lol, smh)

  56. 56.

    Betty Cracker

    @Kent: According to a few constitutional scholars I heard yapping on TV, legislation can’t override the qualifications for president outlined in the U.S. Constitution, so while a conviction in this case might bar Trump from employment at the post office, it could not prevent him from running for POTUS again. I’m not a lawyer, so I don’t know.

  57. 57.

    JohnB

    @NotMax: How does it all end?

    I’ve got a scenario I like: enough of the investigations reveal enough information for anybody who is not firmly mired in the right-wing echo chamber to be convinced of rampant criminality within the Trump administration.

    After that threshold is passed, Biden pardons Trump, but not the lackeys.

    That would serve to:

    1. Reinforce Biden’s status as a “uniter”, whatever that means. It’d make the press swoon over his devotion to moderation.
    2. Humiliate Trump (because he would see it as a humiliation),
    3. Rack up some impressive jail time for the other conspirators.

     

    We know that there’s at least 28% of the population who’ll believe anything TFG says, but assuming that sufficient evidence of alleged crimes can be presented publicly (hence the lack of lackey pardons), then this plan would leave the other 72% at least marginally comfortable with the outcome.

    In theory, of course. In highly speculative, non-professional, folk-psychology-driven theory.

  58. 58.

    Bill Arnold

    The Feds have surveillance videos (“tapes”):
    NYTimes (bold mine):

    During the spring, a group of federal investigators, including the Justice Department’s top counterintelligence official, Jay Bratt, traveled to Mar-a-Lago. Mr. Trump met with them briefly, and lawyers for Mr. Trump were present.
    In an interview on Tuesday with the right-wing channel Real America’s Voice, Ms. Bobb said she and other Trump lawyers had been “extremely cooperative” with the F.B.I. during a previous visit when agents were given “free access” to the building.
    After Mr. Bratt and other officials visited Mar-a-Lago, they subpoenaed the Trump Organization for a copy of Mar-a-Lago’s surveillance tapes, a person with knowledge of the matter said. The company complied, turning over the tapes to the government.

    Counterintelligence investigation. It is possible that one or more foreign agent of a hostile country was spotted on surveillance videos.

  59. 59.

    JaneE

    @MisterForkbeard: Trump signing the law criminalizing the mishandling of classified documents is the best thing about this whole thing, IMO.  If the GOP hadn’t been so disappointed that they had no real crimes to go after Hillary for they would not have made the actions a felony, and inadvertently given the Biden administration an actual reason to lock Trump up.

  62. 62.

    JoyceH

    What gets me about this story is that the media acts like the whole thing is Trump just having these documents. Uh, folks? What was he doing with them? Remember this – TRUMP DOESN’T READ. He’s not going to sit beside the fire on a winter evening, brandy snifter in hand, paging nostalgically back through his presidential career. He took them and he kept them when he was asked to give them back because they have some value to him. And with Trump, monetary value is the ONLY value.

  63. 63.

    Uncle Cosmo

    @Super Dave: ​I worked for a very eccentric owner who wouldn’t allow any TLA’s in our documents unless they were explicitly defined in the text. Old habits die hard!

    That’s not “eccentric,” that’s just good style. (Assuming, of course, that your aim is to inform your readers rather than to obfuscate.) Of course most of the Jackaltariat wouldn’t know “good style” if it snuck up behind you & bit you in the dangling participle – yinz cobble up excessively-self-referent TLAs and expect the rest of us to work them out on the fly. (Ptui!)​

  64. 64.

    Keith P.

    @Bill Arnold: Probably, given that Secret Service actually caught a Chinese national on Mar-a-Lago grounds without authorization and with malware on a thumb drive a few years back.

  65. 65.

    JAFD

    @Uncle Cosmo: ​
     And us Senior Citizens from Philly remember the old days before South Street got gentrified, and the Theater of the Living Arts was a performance space for concerts, classic movies, etc, – and known by its three-letter acronym

  66. 66.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @JAFD: Is it not anymore?  Crazy!  My band got to play a show at the TLA back in the early-mid 90’s.  Didn’t really live up to the Big Break hopes we had had (small turnout since it was like a Tuesday night and there were no big names on the show).

  68. 68.

    justinb

    @Baud: You know this, I’m sure. Not too put to fine a point on it, but I’ve been raided before. My warrant was sealed. I never saw it.

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