The Mar-a-Lago search and IRS funding spur defund-the-police calls — on the right
DEFUND THE FBI!
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) August 9, 2022
Any use of governmental force — from arrests to searches to financial reviews — should be conducted with transparency and evenhandedness, something that demands our collective oversight and scrutiny.
But it is impossible not to notice how the response to the Mar-a-Lago search and the IRS expansion reveal the gulf in what sorts of oversight Americans fear. Black Americans in particular have drawn focus in recent years on how police departments apply force, including deadly force, prompting the political right to largely circle the wagons in defense of cops. When, however, the cops work for the IRS or target a popular Republican political figure — even one with a lengthy track record of blurring legal lines — that reflexive support evaporates. Instead, there’s default skepticism and concern about systemic problems. Which, for the original supporters of “defund the police” will seem familiar.
DEFUND THE FBI!
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) August 9, 2022
Any use of governmental force — from arrests to searches to financial reviews — should be conducted with transparency and evenhandedness, something that demands our collective oversight and scrutiny.
But it is impossible not to notice how the response to the Mar-a-Lago search and the IRS expansion reveal the gulf in what sorts of oversight Americans fear. Black Americans in particular have drawn focus in recent years on how police departments apply force, including deadly force, prompting the political right to largely circle the wagons in defense of cops. When, however, the cops work for the IRS or target a popular Republican political figure — even one with a lengthy track record of blurring legal lines — that reflexive support evaporates. Instead, there’s default skepticism and concern about systemic problems. Which, for the original supporters of “defund the police” will seem familiar.