Trump, the FBI, and the Ghost of COINTELPRO

Rising Republican loathing of the FBI is just history repeating – but which decade are we experiencing again?

With odd symmetry, voices on the Right are demanding “Abolish the FBI” in the wake of the Bureau’s seizing of classified materials from former President Donald Trump’s Florida residence at Mar-a-Lago. If this reminds you of voices on the Left demanding “Abolish the police” just two years ago, it should.

Neither recommendation is exactly a practical proposal. Efforts at abolishing or defunding the police resulted in a sudden and dramatic rise in violent crime, including homicides, since the tumultuous summer of 2020, with its nationwide riots and disorder. All but the radical Left is now in retreat on this issue, with pragmatic liberals recanting their recent support for anti-police measures, which it predictably turns out are deeply unpopular with average citizens, who are more afraid of violent criminals than they are of law enforcement.

Similarly, getting rid of the Federal Bureau of Investigation may mollify the MAGA legions but it will go nowhere as a matter of policy. In the first place, the FBI’s essential missions in Federal law enforcement and national security will have to be done by some organization. All countries have intelligence and security agencies. Even tiny Luxembourg has a domestic spy service (which has its own scandals too). The current bruhaha on the Right regarding the Bureau is reminiscent of anger at the National Security Agency in the wake of Edward Snowden’s defection to Moscow in June 2013. At root, some people just don’t like that we have spy agencies. But everybody has them.