[guest post by Dana]

Because never letting a crisis goes to waste is the mantra of politicians grifters on both sides of the political aisle. But certainly, the MAGA crew steals the spotlight here.

First, though, I want to share how a few prominent MAGA self-proclaimed law enforcement supporters responded to the FBI lawfully searching Donald Trump’s Florida residence yesterday:

Republican members of Congress said Tuesday they want to dismantle the FBI or “clean house” at the Department of Justice after agents raided the Florida estate of former President Donald Trump.

“This is Gestapo crap and it will not stand. The Department of Injustice needs to be cleaned out if they are going to start pretending we are some kind of banana republic,” Rep. Lauren Boebert, Colorado Republican, said in a Twitter video.

Rep. Paul Gosar, Arizona Republican, also invoked the Nazi era, tweeting: “I will support a complete dismantling and elimination of the democrat brown shirts known as the FBI. This is too much for our republic to withstand.”

[…]

“DEFUND THE FBI!” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, posted.

And from Rep. Matt Gaetz:

The FBI raid of Mar-A-Lago is the most defining moment of the Joe Biden presidency. It was a political performance against Trump. The antidote has to be NOT ONE MORE damn penny for this administrative state that has been weaponized against our people in a very fascist way.

Here’s how MAGA politicians, pacs and fundraising committees are cashing in on that, uh, FBI “Gestapo crap” at Mar-a-Lago:

A volley of emails on Monday night and Tuesday morning denounced the FBI’s search warrant — reportedly connected to classified materials that Trump allegedly brought to his Florida resort after leaving the White House — and slammed both the agency and the Biden administration.

“Biden’s FBI raided President Trump’s beautiful Florida home,” the Republican National Committee wrote in a fundraising email, adding that “it’s hard to believe it but it’s true.”

“These are dark times for our Nation,” read an email from Trump’s fundraising team. “The lawlessness, political persecution, and Witch Hunt, must be exposed and stopped.”

An email from the National Republican Senatorial Committee called the raid “unprecedented,” while Trump’s political action committee Save America and the Tea Party Patriots Action group both railed against Democrats and the Biden administration in their fundraising emails.

The National Republican Congressional Committee asked for money and said donations will matched by anonymous donors, calling the effort a “last chance” to “save” Trump.

[…]

Rep. Jim Jordan attacked Democrats and asked for money so Republicans can secure House majority during the upcoming elections. Emails from GOP Sens. Chuck Grassley and Marsha Blackburn also slammed the “Democrat-controlled” FBI, asking for donations and support.

Marjorie Taylor Greene is also hawking tee shirts and caps:

Obviously, the king of grifters himself is fundraising off this latest “witch hunt”:

Trump now fundraising off FBI searching Mar A Lago:

“Please rush in a donation IMMEDIATELY to publicly stand with me against this NEVERENDING WITCH HUNT.” pic.twitter.com/99Oj4aq0Uw

— Will Steakin (@wsteaks) August 9, 2022

MAGA Republicans don’t seem the least bit interested in whether Trump violated the law. They are concerned with making bank off a crisis and promoting the goodness of Donald Trump while condemning the evil Merrick Garland, the FBI, the judge who signed off on the search warrant, the Justice Department, and all other “enemies” of Trump. Sad!

And just so you won’t scream, yes, Democrats took advantage of the moment too. As I’ve long maintained: Trump is the gift that keeps on giving:

Democratic political action committees — like American Bridge and Never Again — linked the raid to fundraising, praising the Justice Department and the FBI.

Anyway, I’ll just leave this here:

If we really believe, as we say we believe, that this is a republic, that nobody is above the law, that the presidency is just a temporary executive-branch office rather than a quasi-royal entitlement, then there is nothing all that remarkable about the FBI serving a warrant on a house in Florida. I myself do not find it especially difficult to believe that there exists reasonable cause for such a warrant. And if the feds have got it wrong, that wouldn’t be the first time. Those so-called conservatives who are publicly fantasizing about an FBI purge under the next Republican administration are engaged in a particularly stupid form of irresponsibility.

Amen.

–Dana