This had better be good.

An armed Secret Service agent stands outside an entrance to former President Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate, Monday, Aug. 8, 2022, in Palm Beach, Fla. Trump said in a lengthy statement that the FBI was conducting a search of his Mar-a-Lago estate and asserted that agents had broken open a safe. (AP Photo/Terry Renna)

Paul GleiserThis had better be good.


We learned last night that the FBI raided the home of former President Donald Trump at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida yesterday. We’re led to believe that they were searching for improperly held classified documents. We don’t know if they found any.

We don’t know if the raid is the product of, or is at the behest of, a grand jury proceeding.

What we don’t know would fill volumes.

But here’s what we do know.

This is without precedent in American history. No former president’s home has ever been raided by the nation’s top federal law enforcement agency. Unless they have something really, really big on Donald Trump, something clearly and unequivocally criminal, the Justice Department is playing with fire.

The first reaction from Trump’s enemies is going to be glee. The alphabet media will make little, if any, effort to conceal their delight. MSNBC has already gone incandescent. The ladies of The View will orgasm today on national TV.

The first reaction from Trump’s supporters will be white hot anger. Those who voted for Trump are already mightily hacked off that a clearly indictable Hillary Clinton skated on malfeasance that would surely have landed someone in her position – but with an “R” instead of a “D” behind his or her name – in prison. They’re hacked off that no one has suffered any significant consequences for perpetrating a totally bogus three-year special counsel investigation of a sitting president based on a piece of Clinton campaign oppo research that was falsely sworn to as probable cause for a FISA wiretap warrant.

Given that all prior allegations of wrongdoing by Donald Trump have come to naught, what the FBI has carried out of Donald Trump’s home had better be, yuuuuge.

Because otherwise the United States – the Shining City on the Hill – will have become a banana republic.

In the absence of something that represents clear and unmistakable wrongdoing by Donald Trump, what the half of the country who voted for him will see is a Department of Justice that has been politicized beyond any hope of redemption.

In the absence of something truly compelling against Trump, what half the country will see is a Washington Swamp establishment mobilized against that which the Swamp fears most: a Trump 2.0 presidency.

What the nation will also see is that the Swamp has nothing but contempt for the American voter (a.k.a we “deplorables”). What we will see is the Swamp’s naked attempt to substitute its judgement for that of the American people. The Establishment Left is forever going on about “threats to democracy.” The truth is, the Establishment Left wants nothing to do with democracy. They want unchallenged power. If they truly believed in the democratic process, they’d trust the voters. That’s the last thing they’re going to do.

Unless there is something really, really big that comes from this raid of Trump’s home, the Establishment Left will have made their true nature and their true intention unmistakably clear. And their true intention is that Donald Trump never finish what he started, which was the expurgation of the liberal coastal elites that have for decades been amassing power and getting rich, all while the American middle class has year after year for more than three decades, been getting poorer.

At this writing, in the absence of hard information, one has only one’s gut to go by. My gut tells me that this is a Hail Mary by the Democrat-dominated DOJ to kill off Donald Trump. If that turns out to be the case, and this effort turns out to be an attempt to juice up a dispute over some documents, I think it likely that this episode will all but assure Trump’s return to the White House.

But please hear this in the way it is intended. I will be relieved if I am wrong. If the raid of Donald Trump’s home brings to light evidence of criminality or wrongdoing that would disqualify him for office, if Donald Trump is legitimately indicted for a serious crime [emphasis added because an illegitimate indictment is an entirely plausible scenario], I will count it as a blessing.

Because unless that happens, unless the DOJ turns out to have acted properly in taking such a colossal step, the damage to the DOJ, the FBI – and indeed the entirety of America’s institutions as embodied in Washington, D.C. – will be devastating and, very possibly, irreversible.

 

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Paul Gleiser

Paul L. Gleiser is president of ATW Media, LLC, licensee of radio stations KTBB 97.5 FM/AM600, 92.1 The TEAM FM in Tyler-Longview, Texas.

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21 Responses

  1. Jon and Brenda Nutter says:

    We are glad you are our voice. We were upset when we heard about the raid. The “media” will eat this up for dessert. Isn’t it strange the raid comes after the CPAC Conference? It is so one way, it just makes us sick what it happening in our nation. Thank you for speaking up for us. God Bless you. Jon and Brenda

  2. Linda M says:

    I am not getting upset over this BECAUSE: It is totally OUT OF CHARACTER of President Trump to try and HIDE something he would know that the left would latch onto and try to destroy him with. Just stop and THINK for a moment of ALL the things the left has tried to bring down President Trump with that has been NOTHING BURGERS. The only thing that might upend this is if the fbi and the left conspired to do a switch and plant “evidence” they can not get legally. As desperate as the left is, absolutely NOTHING would surprise me at this point. It seems that we are having a rerun of history where a J.E.Hoover fbi is doing the bidding instead of any semblance of seeking the truth. When we find out this is just another witch hunt, what should have been done YEARS ago needs to happen and that is to disband the alphabet agencies because TRUTH and JUSTICE no longer matters.

  3. Mike Gauthier says:

    The Democrat party has become totally corrupt, anti-constitution, anti-America, and moving to the extreme left. They have proven time and again that laws are for others, not them. Every single member of that party makes them stronger so the solution is not voting for another Democrat at any level of government. Even if you agree with a Democrat’s position or policies do not vote for them until their party stops its insane extreme leftist movement and starts obeying the constitution, local laws, and returns closer to the center.

  4. Craig Forsyth says:

    Paul, we get it. Your’e against Trump. Stop whining about it already. He’s gonna be the next President regardless of haters like you.

    • Paul Gleiser says:

      Mr. Forsyth, how on earth did you get from this piece that I am “against Trump” and that I am a “hater.” Take a breath, take a minute and re-read it.

      • Craig Forsyth says:

        You’ve already said that you don’t want Trump to run in 24 because of his mean tweets. And now you say that you would rather the FBI find wrong doing to save their reputation than President Trump to be right and the FBI be tainted.

        • Paul Gleiser says:

          Mr. Forsyth, nuance apparently isn’t your thing.

          What I’m saying is that this raid by the FBI of the home of a former president is unprecedented, drastic and, absent undeniable justification, unleashes furies that likely cannot be controlled. With that said, I doubt very seriously that such justification will be forthcoming.

          Therefore, I fear for our republic and its institutions.

          What the piece says is that the consequences of this act by the DOJ are so huge, it would actually be a relief if those actions were actually justified. My money is betting that they’re not. Which means that the DOJ under the Biden administration has done what will likely prove to be irreparable harm to the country.

          And it also means that the DOJ has very likely given Donald Trump the biggest in-kind political donation in history.

          My vigorous objection to this apparent gross abuse of power by the DOJ far and away eclipses any concerns I have about a Trump candidacy. I now believe that a Trump 2024 candidacy is all but inevitable and if it comes about, I will support it.

  5. Karen T. says:

    Love your comments!

    I believe the regime has multiple reasons for doing the blatantly absurd and evil.

    They do not want President Trump to be free and able to win yet another election.

    They know the psychology of defeating the strongest, usually head dude of the gang, so they are working on him to discourage, demean, and knock the wind out of our sails, so-to-speak.

    By the way, a president has the power to declassify anything. If Trump kept anything truly classified, he likely did just that and then kept a copy of it. Remember Lindell walking out of his office that last day the oval was Trump’s and he was carrying a file of something. (Even if he had carried something into DJT’s office, he could’ve easily added something to it and was carrying it out.)

    Lindell speaks and acts as if he has seen or owns evidence of horrible election cheating. I don’t doubt that he does and perhaps the regime is going after anything Trump has to own and destroy said evidence.

  6. Mike says:

    Regardless of whether former President Trump is guilty or not; this completely blows up any precedent that was afforded to the Democrats in the past. IF ANYONE’S home should have been raided by the FBI, NSA, CIA, and Capital Police (they do way more than protect the politicians) it was Hillary Clinton and that illegal server and all those classified documents that were hacked by God knows who all. Those documents were Sopena’d and then erased after the Sopena was served!!! Remember the hard drive that was burned and “Beach Bit”? They had her dead to rights and according to Senator Mike Lee of Utah, nothing should have been done to her because it would set the wrong “precedent”! Really Mike, how’s it looking now? Can YOU hear me now?!!!!

    When are the Republicans going to wake up to the fact the Democrats are in a war of attrition with the American people? If this does not put the icing on the cake for total domination of us all; how about those 87 thousand extra IRS agents to be hired and Oh By The Way the 500 million bullets and 5 thousand new automatic rifles purchased by the law enforcement branch of the IRS. Never mind the landmine proof armored vehicles. What the hell are they going to do with all that hardware? The answer is prepare for a war; what else could they use all that stuff for?

    What other extreme measures will these narcissistic power mongers take before the Midterms?!?

  7. Darrell Durham says:

    This column and the comments to it are the exact reasons democrats are scared of Trump. He exposed them before and will continue to do so. But the problem is that corruption is rampant among all areas of government. I believe all politicians should have term limits and it should be a cumulative total, say 20 years. That would deny lifetime public service and lessen the influence of donor dollars to them. We must vote to get the bad apples out of office before it is too late.

  8. Greg R says:

    If this blows up in the socialist’s faces, I fear for DJT’s life. So far the left has been shown to stop at nothing. Bidom promised to unify America but he has instead divided this country more than ever since the civil war.

  9. Mike Gauthier says:

    This raid on President Trump’s home really troubles me so I am going to comment again. Democrats, some of their supporters, and the deep state (they), stole the election in 2020 and the MSM covered it up. They locked up J6 protesters, some for more than a year to send a message to conservatives, “mess with us and you will pay dearly”. Yet, countless violent rioters on the left went unpunished and in fact got bailed out of jail with the help of our current vice president. They have harassed Trump and those close to him continuously since he was a presidential candidate. They fabricated lies to smear him and impeach him twice. Now they have further weaponized the FBI and DOJ to make certain he cannot run for president again. They are organized and unimaginably powerful criminals with a deep hatred of Trump, Trump supporters, and conservatives in general.
    They corrupted the voting system so completely that it elected a feeble old man. This man is a lifelong corrupt politician who also has a penchant for touching little girls inappropriately. This man put almost zero effort into campaigning and yet, he received more votes than any presidential candidate in history.
    If they can they can do all that with impunity, they can do it again.

    • Mike says:

      To further reinforce what you have relayed Mike, the Attorney General Merrick has repeated said the greatest threat to our Country is Domestic Terrorist. What he meant was Trump supporters or as they fondly poke fun at; MAGA people. This group of Marxist hate MAGA and are pulling out all the stops to stifle voices, suppress support, and destroy all us Deplorables. What better way to do it than unleashing the FBI, DOJ, and soon the IRS on us?

  10. Larry R says:

    The FBI / Dem’s have been looking for something credible to use against Trump for at least 6 years, and have been shown to be liars every time. Now, they are desperate; it is 3 months until the Dem’s possibly lose the House and Senate.
    They will find nothing, but they will CREATE something really big.

  11. Richard Anderson says:

    This is a continuation of an ongoing witch hunt.. “to get President Trump” pure and simple.

    The Marxist/socialist/communist leftist dems cannot tolerate even the thought of Donald J. Trump running for President and winning in 2024, which I predict he will indeed do. As someone who loves America as Founded in 1776, I’m counting on it.

    I voted for him 2016 and he won. And again in 2020, and he won– but his righteous victory was stolen by treasonous bad actors. And I shall vote for him in 2024. In short, voting for President Trump gave me the same feeling of “doing the right thing” just like I had when I voted for Ronald Reagan for his 2 terms. Both of these men are the best Presidents of my lifetime.

    I’m not going to “throw President Trump overboard” because of out of control Biden apparatchiks who could care less about the the rule of LAW or The Constitution of The United States.

    President George Washington, our Founder, is looking down from Heaven with tearful eyes at what has happened to our nation’s capitol, his namesake. Only TRUMP is strong enough and most importantly, LOVES America enough, with millions of citizens supporting him, to straighten out the mess that has become present day Washington, DC, the seat of our federal government.

  12. Chris Clarke says:

    I agree with the comments regarding the raid, but the most concerning problem is the DOJ, FBI, Democrat politicians and media are the real “Untouchables”. No matter what they do-lie, cheat or steal, there is no consequence, and they know that. Holding hearings will not change that and I doubt the Republicans as a group have what it takes to make the needed changes.

  13. C M Solomon says:

    Paul, are there ANY circumstances by which this armed raid by 30 FBI agents on President Trump’s home could EVER be justified? To quote the title of your article: “This had better be good.” Please give me ANY example by which you would even contemplate being given a legal reason to justify these events that would make them proper and within the Law and “authority” of the FBI, who’s “credibility” itself “had better be good,” which is non-existent given their fabricated lies to the FISA Court to frame Trump. Simply speaking, what would constitute “better be good”? . . . Examples please!

    What about the now released conduct of the FBI that refused to provide a copy of the warrant and their refusal for Trump’s lawyer to accompany the search within the private residence since nobody was home at the time except for the maintenance staff? Can a so-called law enforcement agency use non-legal methods to serve and execute a warrant? Is the Constitution viable anymore? Who is declaring war on whom?

  14. C M Solomon says:

    One more thing, is the FBI above planting pictures of a dead body with a written confession by Trump that he murdered that individual out of fear of blackmail and threats by that person to drown his wife? Nothing would surprise me and even this fallacious example would not justify an unaccompanied search without Trump’s lawyer being provided a copy of the warrant for a suspect that had NO criminal record. This raid was a PURE reminder that we non-WOKE citizens are now considered slaves of the unelected, corrupt, administrative state that has become our masters by NEGLECT of our elected officials to identify and punish these demons of domination for the last 50 years.

  15. Buddy Saunders says:

    Very pleasing to see so many comments on this column, the most I have ever seen. So, given that I very much agree with every one who expressed their views, I’ll be brief in my own comments.

    Here’s what concerns me most! The things that have occurred and that are occurring with respect to Pres. Donald Trump and the political opposition he represents are the acts of people so confident in their power that they have no fear of consequences, no matter how extreme their actions become. They no longer care that we know their deep state exists, that they are creatures of the swamp. They have a vast government bureaucracy to advance their agenda, a media at their beck and call, and corporate elites partnering with politicians to sellout us out. Little wonder they’ve decided they can ignore us and do exactly as they please!

    But it’s just possible they are wrong in their thinking. If we can keep future elections honest, and with Pres. Trump certain to run again, there will be a reckoning!

    • C M Solomon says:

      Buddy, I appreciate your optimism that future “honest [if possible] elections” can give us hope that “there will be a reckoning!” The federal deep state leviathan has already “crossed the Rubicon” and continues to execute their demonic destruction of America with impunity with the support of the ultra-wealthy international pro-Communist (WOKE) organizations (political, military, business, medical, educational, etc.) by which we ordinary Americans depend upon for daily living such as food, shelter, clothing, and income.

      The mask is fully off of the corruption in the Federal bureaucracy that has abandoned our Constitution in order to FORCE their “One World WOKE” agenda (no matter how despicable) on anyone that opposes their evolving dictatorship that is aimed at elimination of personal freedoms and family aspirations. They will never allow anything that might erode their all-consuming power that they have already obtained by illegal means. They are Federal mobsters that will continue to use “Color of Law” to justify ANY action to solidify their grip on American society. I fully expect that they have made numerous plans to thwart elections, lawsuits, and demonstrations by using SWAT teams (as they have already done) to arrest and confine ANYONE that threatens their dominance. This includes Martial Law with suspension of Constitutional rights and bank accounts, seizure of property, and confinement of suspects without justification; in order to “put down ANY rebellion” they deem as an “insurrection” or “act to overthrow” their illegitimate facade of power.

      At this point of our national struggle, I believe that the ONLY hope we have is in LOCAL law enforcement at the State and local levels that can thwart this illegal activity. States (Governors and Sheriffs, etc.) have a right to defend their citizens from any criminal organization that is causing havoc amongst the population. The States CREATED the Federal Government and therefore MUST rescue its citizens from harm using ANY means necessary to arrest, charge, and incarcerate ANY governmental so-called “official” that violates State Laws just like any other mobster would be treated. It is WAY PAST TIME that these State officials (that we put into office) get off their pedestal and start acting like PATRIOTS (defenders of Freedom) and take the OFFENSE to these Federal criminals and put them out of business in the State of Texas! If they don’t, I fully expect that our LOCAL demonstrations will overwhelm their laziness to the point of ACTION as it should!

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