Any other time in history I'd say the odds are low enough to be ignored, at most you get an Oliver North or something like that. Right now I'm not so sure, Fauci could be investigated but it's harder to do thanks to the pardons. Looks like Comey is being investigated for setting up a "honey pot" off the books. If that's true, it could provide ammo but I doubt even that would get him in serious trouble. The ex spooks haven't done anything illegal that I know of, they worded their letter in a way that wouldn't have crossed any legal lines and lying to congress is usually not something punished this much after the fact.
One thing does make me think there is a slight chance it could happen. If Trump actually wants to dismantle the system, he will need to highlight actual serious crimes as an excuse to do so.
If I felt like Trump actually wanted to take out the CIA FBI then I'd say he would go for convictions on something, but "reform" is not the same as burning it down, not by a long shot. I think you can get reform with public opinion alone, play the leak game better than they do. And Congress might be best dealt with using Term Limits, something damn near everyone in America agrees on. Investigate the corrupt congress, then use the press to help push for term limits. The lefties will howl and scream but fuck em, the American people are firmly behind it and MAGA loves the idea.
I'd like the alphabet agencies to be closed down, but that will never happen in my lifetime, they will always think they can reform them and it's highly unlikely they ever really will. For now I'd be happy to see them get their wings clipped. USAID destruction is a good start there.
"If Trump actually wants to dismantle the system, he will need to highlight actual serious crimes as an excuse to do so."
There's the rub: the non-stop Doubt about Trump's intentions, origins, affiliations, morals, conscience - and everything else that motivates him. Or not. Even if you give him the best of every presumption, there's still the Deep State size and entrenchment capable of every sort of resistance or retaliation that could ultimately nullify his efforts. That might make small, incremental "fixes" the better course, leaving the balance to his acolytes - assuming they maintain the office and pursue his goals.
Brad, There is a good chance that the covert wing of the CIA will be shut down. I think all 800 of them took Trump's early retirement offer. They done wrong and knowed it. (See my comment on torture above.)
John Kiriakou was convicted and sent to prison for revealing the CIA's torture program. No one has ever been prosecuted or gone to jail for carrying out torture or ordering torture in the US Government.
Torture is against the law and a crime, but the whistleblower goes to jail, and the torturers go free, retire, and collect their government pensions.
I wonder what the statute of limitations is on torture?
I was friends with John on facebook and talked with him a few time. Sadly, I eventually purged him from my friends list along with anyone else who labeled the Jan 6th protesters as "Domestic Terrorists". He of all people should know better than to encourage the government to start using that designation. He was also a Covid authoritarian, which surprised me, I think he brother died early on from it, so it colored how he saw everything after that. (He would block anyone who stated the virus wasn't really that bad.)
I even told him that the Jan 6th people would end up political prisoners, just like him and he kept right on with the "domestic terrorists" line, so I unfriended him, not that I told him, I just did it quietly after having enough of it.
It was a line I drew in the sand, it's just too stupid for someone who'd been held as a political prisoner to encourage the government to hold more political prisoners. I don't like watching train wrecks and that's what it felt like every time he would talk about Jan 6th or covid. Even though he got screwed by the LEFT he still hated the Right so much that he saw them as the bigger enemy and was willing to let the government do what they wanted with to those guys and gals.
I wonder if he ever realized I was right about the Jan 6th people or if he still thinks they are terrorists and should be treated as such? Sadly he wasn't the only anti-war lefty who took that same line about the "domestic terrorists" (they loved the summer of love riots though, they were great and BLM was great too.) You can take the men out of the left, but you can't take the left out of some men, not even after the left tortures them apparently.
Any other time in history I'd say the odds are low enough to be ignored, at most you get an Oliver North or something like that. Right now I'm not so sure, Fauci could be investigated but it's harder to do thanks to the pardons. Looks like Comey is being investigated for setting up a "honey pot" off the books. If that's true, it could provide ammo but I doubt even that would get him in serious trouble. The ex spooks haven't done anything illegal that I know of, they worded their letter in a way that wouldn't have crossed any legal lines and lying to congress is usually not something punished this much after the fact.
One thing does make me think there is a slight chance it could happen. If Trump actually wants to dismantle the system, he will need to highlight actual serious crimes as an excuse to do so.
If I felt like Trump actually wanted to take out the CIA FBI then I'd say he would go for convictions on something, but "reform" is not the same as burning it down, not by a long shot. I think you can get reform with public opinion alone, play the leak game better than they do. And Congress might be best dealt with using Term Limits, something damn near everyone in America agrees on. Investigate the corrupt congress, then use the press to help push for term limits. The lefties will howl and scream but fuck em, the American people are firmly behind it and MAGA loves the idea.
I'd like the alphabet agencies to be closed down, but that will never happen in my lifetime, they will always think they can reform them and it's highly unlikely they ever really will. For now I'd be happy to see them get their wings clipped. USAID destruction is a good start there.
"If Trump actually wants to dismantle the system, he will need to highlight actual serious crimes as an excuse to do so."
There's the rub: the non-stop Doubt about Trump's intentions, origins, affiliations, morals, conscience - and everything else that motivates him. Or not. Even if you give him the best of every presumption, there's still the Deep State size and entrenchment capable of every sort of resistance or retaliation that could ultimately nullify his efforts. That might make small, incremental "fixes" the better course, leaving the balance to his acolytes - assuming they maintain the office and pursue his goals.
Brad, There is a good chance that the covert wing of the CIA will be shut down. I think all 800 of them took Trump's early retirement offer. They done wrong and knowed it. (See my comment on torture above.)
John Kiriakou was convicted and sent to prison for revealing the CIA's torture program. No one has ever been prosecuted or gone to jail for carrying out torture or ordering torture in the US Government.
Torture is against the law and a crime, but the whistleblower goes to jail, and the torturers go free, retire, and collect their government pensions.
There is NO justice in the Federal government.
I wonder what the statute of limitations is on torture?
I was friends with John on facebook and talked with him a few time. Sadly, I eventually purged him from my friends list along with anyone else who labeled the Jan 6th protesters as "Domestic Terrorists". He of all people should know better than to encourage the government to start using that designation. He was also a Covid authoritarian, which surprised me, I think he brother died early on from it, so it colored how he saw everything after that. (He would block anyone who stated the virus wasn't really that bad.)
I even told him that the Jan 6th people would end up political prisoners, just like him and he kept right on with the "domestic terrorists" line, so I unfriended him, not that I told him, I just did it quietly after having enough of it.
It was a line I drew in the sand, it's just too stupid for someone who'd been held as a political prisoner to encourage the government to hold more political prisoners. I don't like watching train wrecks and that's what it felt like every time he would talk about Jan 6th or covid. Even though he got screwed by the LEFT he still hated the Right so much that he saw them as the bigger enemy and was willing to let the government do what they wanted with to those guys and gals.
I wonder if he ever realized I was right about the Jan 6th people or if he still thinks they are terrorists and should be treated as such? Sadly he wasn't the only anti-war lefty who took that same line about the "domestic terrorists" (they loved the summer of love riots though, they were great and BLM was great too.) You can take the men out of the left, but you can't take the left out of some men, not even after the left tortures them apparently.