I’m not typically an anxious person. Maybe anxious is too strong a word. But it will do for now. Things have happened in this country since January 6 of 2021 that I could not have dreamed possible even 4 years earlier.
The recent execution of a search warrant by the FBI on the residence of a former President- words I can scarcely believe I just typed-has unleashed the floodgates. Lunatics on the Internet-including a couple of locals-are calling for war, both civil and otherwise. Indeed, one particularly ardent Trump is no longer a life-in-being after he went calling on the FBI wearing body armor and brandishing a nail-shooter, WTF that is.
Mercifully, recent history, including the insurrection of January 6, has proven that these patriots are not particularly competent. Indeed, one writer has likened their dressing up in quasi-military guard and engaging in balcony talk on social media as tantamount to cosplay. Indeed, she points out that approximately 90 of the insurrectionists have been rounded up and some of them have received stiff sentences. I hope her assessment of their capabilities is correct.
For purposes of this lecture, I will go back to my earlier theme of anxiety and try to explain what is causing me to experience the yips even away from the putting green. This may turn into a multi-part series. But we have to start somewhere.
When I taught government at a local college I told my class about the protester back in the Tea Party days who carried a sign that said “Keep The Government’s Hands Off Medicare.” Well even the dimmest amongst us should know-without getting into whether the Government has hands- that Medicare is a government program. And I told my classes that my goal was minimum.
I didn’t want any of them to be the guy holding that sign.
And recent yapping on the Internet makes it abundantly clear that a lot of people do not understand the process the government has to go through to obtain a warrant to search someone’s dwelling place. There are a lot of people out there holding that sign.
First of all according to the 4th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States, the right of the people to be secure in their homes against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated. Rather no warrant shall issue but upon probable cause supported by oath and particularly describing the place to be searched and the stuff sought.
What this means is that the law enforcement officer seeking a search warrant must swear out an Affidavit describing what is sought, where the officer thinks it is and why he thinks he might find it there and what criminal activity is suspected. The Affidavit is attached to the Application for a Search Warrant. The Application is then taken to a Judge who approves it, denies it or approves it after altering it.
This is how constitutionally valid search warrants get issued. These are the requirements of the Constitution.
Which means that Joe Biden didn’t call Merrick Garland and tell him to get the FBI to search Mar a Lago. Or that the head of the FBI didn’t call the Agent in Charge of the Miami Field Office and tell him or her to poke around in Donald Trump’s personal residence to see what they can find.
Now there’s no doubt that this didn’t happen without approval from the highest levels of the Justice Department. Indeed Attorney General Garland has told the public that he approved the Application. Which has been unsealed by the Judge and which Trump could have released himself. You can find the Application and a copy of the Inventory of stuff seized (which was given to Trump’s attorney) anywhere online.
Here’s why I’ve got the yips. Supposedly the search warrant sought, and obtained as fruits of the search, classified documents that the former President was not authorized to possess according to the National Archives and Records Administration(NARA) . Some of these docs allegedly pertain to nuclear weapons. And yet, the fact it looks like he had no authority to retain these docs that were seized is of no moment to those on the hard right. And those people used to be pro-law enforcement.
I believe in the rule of law over which no person is above. Not even a former President. Or even a sitting one as the case of US vs. Nixon instructs.
Let’s go back to the 4th Amendment. Note that I italicized the word “unreasonable.” The 4th Amendment proscribes unreasonable searches and seizures. Not all searches or politically sensitive searches. The FBI obtained a warrant. It appears they played it by the book, most likely to the Nth degree, given the unprecedented stakes involved. Therefore the search was not unreasonable. The evidence seized might not be admissible in court if it gets that far. It was, as I said, unprecedented. But it was not, on its face, Constitutionally unreasonable.
Finally, some on the hard right have said that the search of Trump’s home is proof that we have become a “banana republic.” Bullshit. The fact that a facially legal search warrant was issued against a former President and that neither the current President or the Attorney General are running their mouths about it is proof that we are not. At least not for another two years.
Still. Too many people are holding that sign.
And that’s why I got the yips.
