The FBI's Search of Mar-a-Lago Is a Reminder That Trump Has Always Been a National Security Threat

[Nevilledog]

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This week we have been forcefully reminded that Donald Trump was, and is, a national security risk unlike any the United States has ever faced.

The FBI search of Trump’s Florida retreat, Mar-a-Lago, and the revelations of details of his war with America’s generals as detailed in a preview of a new book from the New Yorker’s Susan Glasser and New York Times chief White House correspondent Peter Baker, underscored yet again that Trump, as president, posed a unique threat. The flaws in his character, ignorance, contempt for our laws and institutions, and his dubious loyalties made him the most dangerous and powerful man in the world.

And that threat remains, as he seems likely to run for president for a third time. In many ways, it’s even more grave as Trump and his supporters grow increasingly brazen in their embrace of ideas that could render the nation unable to protect itself against him in the future.

Republican howls of protest in the wake of the FBI’s search of Trump’s Florida residence were as loud as they were cynical, hypocritical, and irresponsible.

They knew full well that Trump had illegally removed classified documents from the White House—because not only was it acknowledged, but some of the documents were returned. They knew that to conduct such an operation, the FBI had to obtain a warrant from a judge, demonstrate that there was probable cause that a crime was committed, and almost certainly clear a higher bar than usual both within the Department of Justice and in the court because the target of the search was a former president. They were also aware that there was a clear pattern of destruction of records within the Trump administration in its final days and that credible reports suggested Trump on a regular basis destroyed documents that he by law should have preserved, sometimes by flushing them down the toilet.

*snip*

[Trust_Reality]

1. Presidential candidates (and VP) MUST BE SCREENED IN ADVANCE BY THE FBI

THEY MUST BE SCREENED IN ADVANCE BY THE FBI !!!!!!!!1

This is a stunning hole in our national security.

Obviously a very serious problem.

[Lonestarblue]

2. Yes he has. Who knows what security secrets he leaked to Putin in those private meetings.

I suspect he also had burner phones in the White House for other secret communications with US enemies.

[Duppers]

6. The translators could tell us. nt

[SheltieLover]

3. Kicking for visibility

[crickets]

4. K&R for visibility.

[Hermit-The-Prog]

5. The radicalized Republican party wants permanent, total control. Democracy is in their way.

They WILL politicize the entire government if they regain power.

Why? Precisely because their goal is to politicize the entire government, to place party loyalty ahead of loyalty to the country, to do exactly what they are dishonestly arguing is happening today.

This is a step toward authoritarianism, and a step away from a system of government in which no one is above the law—our current system, which we saw in action in Florida this week. But it is even worse when those who would lead such an eviscerated autocratic state are known to pose, as Trump does, the gravest sort of national security risk. It would be bad enough to see democracy fall. But if it falls to Trump, an inevitable consequence would be that the U.S. would become weaker, our enemies stronger, and the danger to each and every American would grow both from home and from abroad.