(Photo illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios. Photos: Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images and Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
FBI Director Christopher Wray just announced he will resign from his position marking yet another institutional actor bending the knee and obeying in advance to a vengeful and authoritarian Trump Administration that is about to ascend to power. We’ve already witnessed shameful capitulation by corporate media, most notably exemplified by Morning Joe, and even a few Democrats who are not exercising their current power to hold Trump, his cronies, and Administration picks, such as Peter Hegseth and Kash Patel, to some form of accountability and public scrutiny.
The Supreme Court has already gifted Trump the most expansive powers ever given to the President with their ruling in the summer that grants Presidents “absolute immunity” for actions committed within the core functions of the Executive branch. Over the weekend, Trump promised to pardon the January 6th insurrectionists whom he refers to as hostages, and also has promised retribution in the past against his critics whom he refers to as “the enemy from within.” Specifically, he said he is open to unleashing the military and the National Guard against all of us who are allegedly “poisoning the blood” of the country.
Speaking of Kash Patel, he’s Trump’s unqualified pick to replace Wray as the head of the FBI, a position he told Steven Bannon he would use to go after Trump’s media and political enemies. If you thought Trump would moderate and become a unifier, then I have a border wall to sell you that won’t be paid for by Mexico.
The timing of Wray’s announcement coincided with a timely conversation I just finished with former federal prosecutor Glenn Kirschner, who is currently an MSNBC contributor and host of the wildly popular Justice Matters show and podcast.
We wrapped up just before Wray’s official announcement, and, sadly, it tracks with Glenn’s longstanding concerns about how Trump will weaponize law enforcement to not only punish innocent Americans but also dismantle our fragile democratic guardrails and institutions. However, Glenn is a bit more optimistic than me about how Americans, and especially civil servants - whom he calls “points of light” in the current darkness - can still exercise their power to hold Trump’s authoritarian ambitions in check.
Grab a chai and give us a listen.
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