Trump’s FBI, Justice Department Feud Threatens to Bring Back McCarthyism, A Campaign to Secure Power For Those In Power

The FBI under the leadership of J. Edgar Hoover and the Department of Justice were instruments for a campaign of tranny that sought to secure the loyalty of the American People for the US government.  In the aftermath of the second World War and the prelude to the Cold War, communism was propagating and Democratic President Harry S. Truman feared a failure to take a hardliner stance against communism would threaten democracy and hurt the Democratic Party in subsequent elections.  During McCarthyism, Republicans seized upon the momentum of the “Red Scare” and took it to an new extreme in order to capture government for themselves.  Allegedly attempting to secure democracy and American values, elected and unelected public officials were actually capitalizing on the the fears of the American People to seize and secure political power for themselves. 

​Today, the FBI and the Justice Department are targets of an emerging campaign to ensure their loyalty to President Donald Trump.  Like Truman’s Executive Order 9835, Trump’s escalating efforts to ensure the personal loyalty of government officials to him is inviting a new era of McCarthyism.  During the McCarthy Era, talk of communism, democracy, patriotism, and American “values” helped obscure the true intentions of elected officials and national security officials as they used fear of a Russian invasion to garner support, suppress opposition, crush dissent, and hijack the US government for their own gains.  Russian interfere in the 2016 Elections may be a central theme in the Trump Era, but the threat of communism is gone, so the enemy has simply become those who threaten the power of Donald Trump and the GOP.
 
The so-called Nunes Memo, which was declassified and released by President Donald Trump with the approval of the Republican controlled Congress in the wake of a Republican campaign to release the document, has sparked a growing controversy and inflamed partisan tensions.  This political crisis is, of course, emerging as the US government struggles to deal with a funding crisis created by Republicans, address the DACA crisis created by Trump, and confront the reality of a trillion dollar Federal Deficit exasperated by Republican tax cuts and other spending.  For his part, President Donald Trump has used the Nunes Memo to justify his public criticism of the FBI and Justice Department as well as his attempts to ensure the personal loyalty of public officials to him.
 
Driven by the so-called Russian Election Hacking Probe, Trump’s feud against the FBI and the Justice Department is the result of investigators linking Russian activity to him and his associates.  He and his associates claim the FBI and Justice Department were motivated by politics when they conducted surveillance on Trump campaign officials during the 2016 Presidential Election, even though Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton was the target of an active, publicly disclosed FBI investigation.  Since the September 11, 2001 Terrorist Attacks, the USA Patriot Act and other surveillance policies have been continually abused by national security officials to spy on the American People and others.  Like reaction of US Congressmen during the 2014 discovery that the CIA hacked the Senate’s computer networks, the Trump Administration’s anger is hypocritical.  Given the FBI likely had justification to surveil Trump associates, Trump’s feud has more to do with his personal discomfort than protecting the American People from national security overreach.
 
Since the McCarthy Era, as well as the Presidency of Richard Nixon, safeguards have been adopted and instituted to help prevent the hijacking of the US government by government officials.  It is why the Trump Administration has to contend with investigations and subsequent legal proceedings.  Unfortunately, abuse of power and others forms of corruption have continued to exist, because too little was done to tackle corruption, prevent undue influence, and secure the US government for the American People.  Trump may be particularly brazen about his demands for loyalty and unchecked power, but corruption did not start with Donald Trump nor will it end with him.  President Truman acted to secure government for his political party while McCarthy Republicans did the same.  National security officials of that era acted to secure broad powers for their agencies. Communism was the justification for their action, but their actions driven a quest for power, even though they ran afoul of democracy, American values, and patriotism.

Instead of serving the American People, the US government became a servant of political elites who used government power to abuse the American People.  This started with “loyalty reviews.”  Today, the FBI, the Justice Department, and Democrats threaten the Republican hold on power, so they are the targets.  The goal is the same as always: secure power for those in power.  The power of the US government does not, however, belong to the US President or any other public official.  It belongs to the American People, which is why the US President must submit to US Law and law enforcement. The Trump Administration needs to stop undermining investigators and the independence of law enforcement, because the few safeguards in place are needed to protect the US government from corruption and protect the American People from the abuse of government power.