Don鈥檛 lock him up: Lock him down
Recently, Republicans have had cold political waters doused on their faces.
They stood by, turning their thumbs down repeatedly, while their fellow Senate Democrats unanimously passed the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022.
The only contribution Senate Republicans made to the legislation was forcing Democrats to strip a measure calling for price caps on the sale of insulin at $35, for people buying it through their non-Medicare insurance.
Good for those Republicans. They can now campaign on the fact that many Americans with diabetes won鈥檛 be able to get a break in their medication costs 鈥� thanks to them.
Besides, the new legislation doesn鈥檛 say a single thing about what Republicans hold dearest to their hearts.
There wasn鈥檛 a single sentence in it about restricting the teaching of (non-existent) Critical Race Theory to bisexual, transgender Mr. Potato Heads.
What a shame!
Republicans didn鈥檛 have much of a chance to run around to the Sunday morning news shows so they could cry their crocodile tears about those mean, old Democrats not letting them water down that new bill.
The following morning, all political heck broke out. (I don鈥檛 feel comfortable cussin鈥� here)
FBI agents took a tour through the bowels of Donald Trump鈥檚 Mar-a-Lago vaults (or something), and they walked out with 12 boxes of what might be some of聽 Trump鈥檚 presidential papers.
I鈥檓 not passing any judgment on whether there is, or whether there ain鈥檛 incriminating bundles of top-secret stuff.
(I don鈥檛 curse. But I do use poor grammar from time to time)
This is about the unnecessary Republican outrage that followed the news that Mar-a-Lago had been surrounded by G-men.
Nearly immediate outrage.
You鈥檇 be hard-pressed to find many Republicans who鈥檇 admit the events of Jan. 6, 2021, were part of an insurrection.
But remove a few boxes from under Donald Trump鈥檚 nose, and鈥�
Within hours of the word getting out (Trump put it out himself) that the FBI had arrived at Mar-a-Lago, Republicans came out of the woodwork to blame President Biden, his attorney general 鈥� Merrick Garland 鈥� and Trump鈥檚 FBI appointee 鈥� Chris Wray 鈥� of damaging America forever.
That couldn鈥檛 have been funnier.
Fox News guest Joe Concha went into a four-minute rant about the supposedly 鈥減artisan B.S.鈥� the execution of a search warrant by the FBI is 鈥� until he was stopped, then reminded that the director of the FBI (I said this a couple of paragraphs ago) was appointed by Donald Trump.
There was grumpy old Lou Dobbs who claimed that 鈥淭he FBI and the Department of Justice have ruthlessly violated the Constitution and law in America.鈥�
That search warrant, by all accounts, was legally obtained from a judge, and duly carried out by federal law enforcement personnel. When Dobbs made that ridiculous statement, he had no idea it could have violated the Constitution.
He was just pouting out loud.
Some folks seemed to be very serious-minded about the FBI鈥檚 activities that day.
That is until they opened their mouths.
Political grouch Dinesh D鈥橲ouza, who has a long history of throwing political hissy fits, first claimed, 鈥淭he Biden administration is rapidly devolving into a Third World junta. (That鈥檚 a rather moderate assessment for D鈥橲ouza). Then D鈥橲ouza did what D鈥橲ouza does 鈥� all the time.
鈥淔irst they steal the 2020 election鈥︹��
See what I mean?
He somehow found a way to stick his bogus claims of a stolen 2020 presidential election into something that had nothing to do with it.
Former Trump press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders actually sounded reasonable when she responded.
鈥淲hen you鈥檙e attacking FBI agents because you鈥檙e under criminal investigation, you鈥檙e losing,鈥� she said.
What may seem like she was attacking her old boss was something altogether different.
That鈥檚 what she said in November of 2016 about Hillary Clinton 鈥� just before that presidential election.
Here鈥檚 what she said about the raid on Mar-a-Lago.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e not yet appalled by the total abuse of power from Democrats in Washington, you鈥檙e not paying attention,鈥� she tweeted.
She鈥檚 as delusional as her old boss, huh?
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 50-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.