The Conversation America's Not Having

Hypothetical thought experiment:  

1. What if Trump admitted he had messed up, had been a threat to democracy? Would that, in turn, create change or a cleaning house in the FBI/DOJ/CIA/Media etc.. ?  No. 

2. On the other hand, what if DOJ/FBI admit they were (and continue to be) a threat to democracy and offer transparency on 1/6?  Would that create change or repentance in Trump? No way!  But what it *would* do is take much of the passion and Trumpism out of the MAGA movement. It would reduce the odds of Trump winning by allowing someone like a DeSantis to gain steam. Absent the rogue admin state I'd vote DeSantis and I was one of 11 million Americans who voted Trump in '20 but not '16 so I'm not too much an outlier. 

In other words, the one way to effect change is to get to the *root* of Trumpism, not simply try to lop off Trump’s head and allow the root to fester. 

I think the really salient point in all of this, and it’s really the only interesting question, is whether or not the dismantling of the intel community is worth blowing up the country over (metaphorically speaking).  That’s the convo we need to have. I’m not sure of the answer, as we all have a lot to lose. But I think of how the Founders pledged their lives and fortunes and their version of liberty is the president gets to serve until both Houses of Congress impeach him. 

And, of course, you could respond that their version of liberty would be for the Congress to exercise authority over the FBI or re-establish it anew.  

It’s a conundrum because Congress will neither reject Trump nor reject the FBI so that’s why we’re here. 

So it’s up to the American people to be the tie-breaker. And we can’t vote out the unelected deep swam so that’s why I’m voting Trump in ’24. 

It's funny how National Review all those years was mostly concerned about issues that turned out to be negligible compared to civil liberties and rule of law.  We all missed that boat. "Big government" was fearsome mainly because of a ballooning federal debt and wars of choice and business regulation and taxation and red tape.  Who knew it was primarily a threat to civil liberties, to its own citizens? 

But, to end on a cheery note, this from Patrick Byrne:

"I am about the only guy on [our] side not using words like ‘treason’ for a reason. We are not beyond the point that we as a society can forgive and move on peaceably.”