The GOP Suddenly Wants to Defund Law Enforcement After Feds Raid Mar-a-Lago

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene whined that defunding the Department of Justice would “completely cut out of their budget the ability to persecute Republicans”

After years defending the continued militarization of law enforcement agencies across the United States, Republican lawmakers appeared to have a change of heart Monday after learning the FBI executed a search at the Florida estate of former President Donald Trump. Faced with the possibility that the “good guys” aren’t necessarily on their side, prominent members of the party that made backing the blue a central tenet of its political platform began spouting rhetoric that belied their professed allegiance to the “rule of law.”

“The GOP majority must defund all forms of tyranny throughout Biden’s government,” prominent right-wing figurehead Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) wrote on Twitter, tagging the official FBI account. She later added: “Weaponizing the FBI to raid President Trump’s home makes Watergate look like nothing.” Rep. Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.), meanwhile, embraced the GOP’s favored doomsday approach. “We must destroy the FBI,” he tweeted. “We must save America.”

https://twitter.com/RepGosar/status/1556821907726630915

As the primary law enforcement agency of the United States government whose self-described mission is “to uphold the rule of law,” the Department of Justice and its associated agencies are essentially America’s police force. Any efforts to defund or dismantle these agencies would is akin to liberal activists’ calls to reduce or restructure funding for local police forces — a concept Trump regularly used as a scare tactic to push voters away from Democrats. Yet, as is to be expected, irony is an art that remains lost on the most fervent of right-wing Republicans.

No voice in the “Defund the DOJ” crowd rang louder than that of professional conspiracy theorist and devoted Trump sycophant Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who spent most of Monday evening having a public meltdown on Twitter, calling for the impeachment of President Joe Biden, accusing Democrats of “radicalizing our federal law enforcement to take political enemies out,” and posting an image of an upside-down American flag followed by an all-caps rallying cry: “DEFUND THE FBI!”

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