August 9, 2022

From Dumb to Terrifying, Here Are Some Unhinged Responses to the FBI Raid on Trump’s Mar-a-Lago

A tunnel of amped up Trump fans, revenge threats, and conspiratorial pontification.

Trump hanging out in Palm Beach in December 2020.

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The dust had hardly settled from the FBI’s raid of Mar-a-Lago on Monday when a thunderous chorus of Republican lawmakers, rabid Trump zealots, two prominent Andrews, and pundits of all stripes weighed in on the extraordinary search at former president Donald Trump’s Palm Beach home.

So far, the appraisals have been varied. But they tend to share a common identity of extremely amped up, conspiratorial, and ready for battle. Let’s take a tour of some of their strangest responses.

“This is some third-world bullshit.”

You’re next.

Defund the…police?

Three-letter federal agencies are coming for you.

Let’s threaten a notoriously meticulous and deliberative attorney general.

Investigations are bad, says disgraced politician and focus of sexual harassment investigation.

It’s bad optics to go after potential criminals.

His supporters wanted to hang me but I’m just as mealymouthed as ever.

This is war.

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THE FACTS SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES.

At least we hope they will, because that’s our approach to raising the $350,000 in online donations we need right now—during our high-stakes December fundraising push.

It’s the most important month of the year for our fundraising, with upward of 15 percent of our annual online total coming in during the final week—and there’s a lot to say about why Mother Jones’ journalism, and thus hitting that big number, matters tremendously right now.

But you told us fundraising is annoying—with the gimmicks, overwrought tone, manipulative language, and sheer volume of urgent URGENT URGENT!!! content we’re all bombarded with. It sure can be.

So we’re going to try making this as un-annoying as possible. In “Let the Facts Speak for Themselves” we give it our best shot, answering three questions that most any fundraising should try to speak to: Why us, why now, why does it matter?

The upshot? Mother Jones does journalism you don’t find elsewhere: in-depth, time-intensive, ahead-of-the-curve reporting on underreported beats. We operate on razor-thin margins in an unfathomably hard news business, and can’t afford to come up short on these online goals. And given everything, reporting like ours is vital right now.

If you can afford to part with a few bucks, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones with a much-needed year-end donation. And please do it now, while you’re thinking about it—with fewer people paying attention to the news like you are, we need everyone with us to get there.

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