FBI Has Reestablished Trump as the Alpha Dog in the Republican Party

As the late political philosopher Hans Gruber once said, “You ask for miracles — I give you the F-B-I.”

There was a time when having one’s home searched by federal law enforcement would trigger talk about the end of somebody’s political career. But it is a testament to what a bizarre moment in American history we are in that it may very well mark the informal launch of a presidential candidacy.

Within hours of FBI agents leaving his property, Donald Trump was eager to break the news, issuing a press release stating, “These are dark times for our Nation, as my beautiful home, Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, is under siege, raided and occupied by a large group of FBI agents.”

Then Trump’s political operation followed up with a fundraising appeal and a campaign-style video. The four-minute production, which may as well have been the launch of a presidential run, starts off in ominous black and white, with sound effects of a storm in the background while Trump declares that the United States is a “nation in decline.” Among his grievances is that we are a “nation that has weaponized its law enforcement against the opposing political party like never before.” As the video turns to color, he echoes his 2016 slogan, proclaiming, “Soon we will have greatness again.”