On Aug. 8, 2022, the Media, the Congress, and We the People took the bait. We fell for the diversion, and are still mesmerized by it. The FBI raid on former President Trump’s residence–unprecedented, and likely completely unwarranted though it was– was just a diversion.
Would the raid have happened anyway? Yes, most likely given the repugnant and inflammatory tone of American politics these days. In reality, this heinous act will be resolved legally and politically, and we all know that. But just as people gawk as they drive by accidents on the highway, and just they are drawn to impending train wrecks like moths to a flame, so too were we on the morning of Aug. 8. drawn in.
Perhaps it is because I write political suspense novels inspired by current events, but my eye turned immediately to what was missing on that day, not what was blatantly covered wall to wall by all Media. Another drama was setting up. This one will effect us all much more profoundly, and for a much longer period of time.
Here’s the real attack, in my opinion. I was aware there was a full court press in the Senate to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, and I learned they were working through the night Sunday. In the wee hours of Monday, Aug. 8, the Senate passed that bill–sneaking it through before the CBO report would come out Monday morning. They obviously knew the report was going to show that the act would not reduce inflation. And they wanted it passed before the Press or the American people started to dig into the CBO report, and begin calling their Congressmen and women. Ask yourself, who passes something without knowing what the impact of that something will be or will not be? Are they a fool, an incompetent? Or just plain malevolent.
The report did come out Monday morning, and just as I was listening to the beginning reporting on it, everything was interrupted by Breaking News about the FBI raid at Mar-a Lago–also done in the wee hours. Once news of that broke, all reporting shifted to the political aspects of what had happened. Coverage has predominantly stayed focused in that direction. As a writer of prophetic political fiction, I believe the raid on the Trump residence was timed to mitigate the fall-out of the CBO report. That bill had only passed the Senate. It needed to pass the House, and if constituents had time to hear about the report, digest some of the report, and contact their representatives, some Democrats might have broken ranks and defeated it.
However, under cover of the massive attention-grabbing diversion of the flashing blue lights and dozens of people entering the famed Mar-a-Lago, Speaker Pelosi could quietly go about her business of getting the vote on the Inflation Reduction Act. On Aug. 15, it passed and,having been signed by the President, is now law.
Attention periodically gets pointed to the innards of that bill which includes the massive funding of the IRS, and the adding of tens of thousands of new IRS agents. Once passed, however, nothing can stop that sneak attack. If you think the abuse of power exercised against Donald J. Trump was bad, just wait to you experience the abuse of power the IRS can and will levy against YOU.
Pretty slick, huh? Stage a provocative diversion, and then sneak the bill through, with the camouflaged IRS expansion visible, but never presented front and center to the American people. Our representatives did not give us any time to review the bill, weigh in on what we liked and didn’t like, and potentially stop something we felt was very dangerous in the short and long run. No, they just rammed it down your throats while you were arguing whether or not the DOJ was engaged in an abuse of power regarding President Trump.
Media and pundits are sounding the alarm now. They are right to do so. But, they are too late. We took the bait. We diverted our attention away from something that effects every American directly and immediately.
Now also do you begin to understand why the warrant, which was gained under the pretext that it was SO URGENT that a full-scale seizure had to occur, was not executed until Monday morning in the wee hours? It is not a conspiracy theory to recognize that the timing of that was to insure it was a diversion, and that no one would really read or appreciate a dry accounting report when they had the more salacious Media circus to watch. Common sense tells you that if it were that urgent they would have executed it Friday. Why Monday? And why just as or before the CBO report came out to warn the American people that all was not as it seemed in the numbers, and the deceptive name of the Bill?
We the People are now in the sad cross hairs of an agency that can invade your privacy without a warrant. They can attack at will. Once again, the American citizen can be viewed as “guilty by accusation.” They can snoop, seize assets, demand documents and proof, and take your “treasure.” Anyone who has ever had a sudden and unexpected audit knows exactly what I am referring to, and how intimidating the process can be for the normal, honest American.
What’s wrong with a government agency whose very return address on the envelope causes one to quake? You know what I am talking about!
We took the bait. And we were reeled in.