While this is old news by the time of publication, the FBI raid on Donald Trump’s residence, Mar-A-Lago, on Aug. 8, 2022, was rather surprising to say the least. While the affidavit, and thus the official reason, are heavily redacted, so the official reason is not entirely known, it doesn’t seem unreasonable to venture a political motive. There are many reasons to indicate this as a potential factor, not the least of which is how the FBI has treated investigations regarding political figures in the past, in particular Hillary Clinton’s email scandal which never resulted in any real prosecution. Time has yet to tell if Trump will face criminal charges, yet it almost doesn’t seem to matter if he is or isn’t. Because the truth of the matter is that the raid on Mar-A-Lago, and the rhetoric surrounding it have only continued to cement the narrative divide between the left and right.
I think it should come as no surprise that there is a strong political bias against the former President. Whether or not it is justified, or proper, is a discussion entirely separate from the issue at hand. It doesn’t matter if you think Trump is a Saint or a sinner, because you will never convince the other side of your particular persuasion. Instead, discussion of him only seems to itch the amygdalae of those on the left, with the raid itself itching those on the right.
The media machine, both mainstream and online, have worked endlessly to stir up anger on both sides. The right has seen the raid as an attack on a former President, and wholly unjustified. Meanwhile, the left has latched onto this raid with the hopes of embarrassing the Trump presidency even more, and hopefully preventing him from running for office. However, this doesn’t seem to align with the DNC’s current political strategy, which is to run moderates against “America First” type republicans, in a hope to appeal to the center. This has even gone so far, to now the DNC is funding said republicans. This begs the question of why the DNC doesn’t feel confident running against Trump in 2024. It may be Trump’s current endorsement record, but the DNC is unlikely to divulge.
Instead, it seems that this raid was strictly to give the illusion that the Biden administration hasn’t been a colossal failure in policy. Ahead of the midterms, the administration needs to appear stronger than it really is. While certainly there are some on the left that would love to see the imprisonment of Donald Trump, that is just unlikely to happen since it would rile up the right like nothing else for this midterm election, which is the last thing the Biden administration wants if it would like a sliver of a chance of enacting any policy over the next two years.
With this in mind, the raid on Mar-A-Lago simply appears to be a failed attempt at realpolitik, and has only bolstered Trump’s support in the Republican Party. The midterms will certainly be interesting this year.
You can also view this article here.