But broken? Sign me up.
The events that began with the search of Mar-A-Lago show the system of politics, content, and people need a fix.
You can see that in our own backyard. A former Navy veteran named Ricky Shiffer tried to breach the FBI field office in Cincinnati on August 11 by entering a visitor screening facility. After an alarm sounded he fled and led authorities on a roughly 45-mile chase into Clinton County. He eventually stopped his car, got out, and engaged in a standoff with the police. He eventually fired at officers, who fired back and killed him.
Shiffer’s name appeared on social media posts urging a “call to arms” following the Mar-A-Largo search, and authorities continue to probe his connection to extremist groups.
What does Shiffer have to do with a broken system? He’s emblematic of the problems that occur when politics, content, and people don’t align.
Look at what’s happened so far.
After the search, Trump’s supporters immediately rushed to his defense, ripped law enforcement (when they are the supposed supporters of such) as partisan, and decried the search. Kevin McCarthy vowed political retribution.
Content providers who slant stories to fit what their audience pushed their own agenda. The left started the calls for Trump’s prosecution and the right howled at the tyranny of an oppressive government targeting political opponents. Both sides began the drumbeat that best fits their narrative — without a single fact.
People on both sides got angry because they listened to the politicians and read the content that corroborated their worldview — without any facts.
That leads to the Shiffers of the world, who take to social media, spew anger, and act on it because they believe — without really knowing anything about the case — that something wicked this way comes.
In a working system, politics, content, and people would work as a system in which lawmakers rationally explore an issue, content explains it without bias and people get together to discuss the impact and what it means.
Instead, we have a broken system that rewards the twisting of narratives with re-election, advertising dollars, and the comfort of having your views validated.
Ask yourself. What do we really know?
The FBI and DOJ used a warrant on August 8 to search Trump’s Mar-a-Lago property and recovered 11 boxes of material, some marked classified and others top secret (though Trump says he declassified them all). A judge unsealed the search warrant on August 12 and the DOJ has objected to releasing the affidavit because it says it will damage its investigation
That’s what we know.
There are lots of questions, including, how did authorities come to suspect there were more documents at Mar-A-Lago? Who took them from the White House and stored them there? Who had access to the documents before the FBI seized them? What does surveillance camera footage of the property show? Why did Merrick Garland, supposedly, deliberate three weeks before approving the search, and then why did the FBI wait two days after the judge approved the warrant to search the house?
I think we’ll get answers over time, most likely via leaks in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, New York Times, and Politico. The House Intelligence Committee has demanded a briefing on the raid, and this bi-partisan group should get one, fast. While a federal judge ruled the DOJ should release a version of the affidavit that justified the search, it will likely be heavily redacted and yield little information.
Until then the extremes on both sides will continue making pronouncements based on what they hope the outcome to be, not what we know. That plays into a broken system that desperately needs a fix.
Ray Marcano’s column appears on these pages each Sunday. You can send him a question or comment at raymarcanoddn@gmail.com.
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