During the first of Der Furor's stints in the presidency, and throughout the administration of Joe Biden, the endlessly-repeated fever dream of the GOP and the farthest-right orbits of the conservative world was that the federal government had been "weaponized" against them ... that the Biden Justice Department was constantly seeking every possible opportunity to bring down the full weight of the government on the heads of innocent Americans guilty only of opposing the "radical left lunatics" ... as opposed to, say, innocently storming and damaging the Capitol Building and killing several people in the process.
When they regained power, the Republicans promptly established the United States House Judiciary Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, under the leadership of firebrand Ohio Representative Jim Jordan, to drill down and prove that the perfidious Democrats had "weaponized" the government against them. By the time the subcommittee was disbanded at the end of the the Congressional session, it had published a report that was long on innuendo and woefully innocent of actual evidence of the alleged weaponization. Proving "weaponization" of the government against conservatives was also a prime focus of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee (also known as the Oversight and Government Reform Committee) under Kentucky Representative James Comer, which relentlessly - if fruitlessly - tried to find evidence of wrongdoing by the Biden administration.
When Der Furor returned to the presidency, one of his first acts was to revitalize the search for the weaponization not found earlier. On his first day in office, Der Furor issued Royal Decree Executive Order 14147, Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government*. He would, by gawd, find the evidence no one had found before.
What has happened since then has shone a light on the actual weaponization of the power of government against opponents and critics.
Consider the following royal decrees executive orders (EOs) cast down from Olympus by Der Furor**:
EO 14250: Addressing Risks From WilmerHale - accusing the law firm (among other things) of "engag(ing) in obvious partisan representations to achieve political ends, support(ing) efforts to discriminate on the basis of race, back(ing) the obstruction of efforts to prevent illegal aliens from committing horrific crimes and trafficking deadly drugs within our borders, and further(ing) the degradation of the quality of American elections, including by supporting efforts designed to enable noncitizens to vote."
EO 14246: Addressing Risks From Jenner & Block - accusing the law firm of (among other things) "engag(ing) in obvious partisan representations to achieve political ends, support(ing) attacks against women and children based on a refusal to accept the biological reality of sex, and back(ing) the obstruction of efforts to prevent illegal aliens from committing horrific crimes and trafficking deadly drugs within our borders."
EO 14237: Addressing Risks From Paul Weiss - accusing the law firm of (among other things) "hir(ing) unethical attorney Mark Pomerantz, who had previously left Paul Weiss to join the Manhattan District Attorney's office solely to manufacture a prosecution against me and who, according to his co-workers, unethically led witnesses in ways designed to implicate me. After being unable to convince even Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg that a fraud case was feasible, Pomerantz engaged in a media campaign to gin up support for this unwarranted prosecution."
EO 14230: Addressing Risks From Perkins Coie LLP - accusing the law firm of (among other things) "undermining democratic elections, the integrity of our courts, and honest law enforcement, [and] racially discriminat(ing) against its own attorneys and staff, and against applicants."
President Donald J. Trump Addresses Risks Associated with Miles Taylor - in which Der Furor accuses Mr Taylor of being "a bad-faith actor who weaponized and abused his government position, prioritizing his own ambition, personal notoriety, and monetary gain over fidelity to his constitutional oath."
President Donald J. Trump Addresses Risks from Chris Krebs and Government Censorship - which accuses Mr Krebs by name of being "a significant bad-faith actor who weaponized and abused his government authority" through his leadership of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA).
Let's look at this for just a moment, shall we?
The President of the United States has issued royal decrees executive orders specifically targeting law firms and individuals against which he has a personal grudge, the EO targeting Paul Weiss being the most obviously blatant ("solely to manufacture a prosecution against me," "unethically led witnesses in ways designed to implicate me"). Mr Krebs' offense was to deny Der Furor's insistence that the 2020 presidential election had been rigged, while Mr Taylor is accused of spreading "falsehoods" and "false narratives" about Der Furor through his writings.
If you're looking for evidence of the "weaponization" of government power against individuals, you now have some spectacularly clear examples. The President of the United States has unilaterally directed specific punitive actions against specific individuals and against law firms guilty of representing clients who have angered Der Furor. Worse, some of the targeted law firms have caved to the pressure, agreeing (in the very definition of "a deal with the devil") to provide millions of dollars of pro bono work on issues near and dear to Der Furor's heart (assuming that a "heart" can actually be found).
There are dozens of other examples of instances where Der Furor has stripped security clearances from individuals who have angered him, denied White House press access to the Associated Press because it has not wholeheartedly embraced his rebranding of the "Gulf of America," and taken other petulant actions which advance his petty grievances ... while his rudderless mismanagement of the economy threatens both the livelihood of Americans and the entire international economy.
It's interesting, but not surprising, that Republican members of Congress in positions of responsibility (I'm looking at you, Jim Jordan and James Comer) have turned a willfully blind eye to this outrageous, blatantly illegal, unconstitutional, and immoral abuse of the power of government. Today's GOP observes the Wizard of Id's version of the Golden Rule: Whoever has the gold, makes the rules.
If you are a full-throated supporter of Der Furor's frighteningly un-American, self-serving actions, there's another quote you should note, this often-cited one from long-form history podcaster Dan Carlin: Imagine all that power in the hands of someone you loathe. When the President of the United States gets around to turning his sights on you, your America won't seem quite so great.
Have a good day. Hope the most powerful person in America doesn't decide to turn the whole weight of the federal government against you and yours.
More thoughts coming.
Bilbo
* In the words of the royal decree executive order, "The American people have witnessed the previous administration engage in a systematic campaign against its perceived political opponents, weaponizing the legal force of numerous Federal law enforcement agencies and the Intelligence Community against those perceived political opponents in the form of investigations, prosecutions, civil enforcement actions, and other related actions. These actions appear oriented more toward inflicting political pain than toward pursuing actual justice or legitimate governmental objectives. Many of these activities appear to be inconsistent with the Constitution and/or the laws of the United States ..." Sounds to me exactly like what we're seeing now.
** A complete list of royal decrees executive orders published in the Federal Register can be found here. The whole list of Der Furor's fulminations, including those not yet on the Federal Register, can be found here. Don't read unless you want to be depressed and disgusted.
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