Op-Ed: Are federal agencies becoming weapons of tyranny?

A week ago, Americans of all political persuasions were shocked — and many appalled and outraged — when armed FBI agents stormed Mar-a-Lago, former President Donald Trump’s world-famous resort and private home.

(Article by Ben Kerido republished from WesternJournal.com)

For over nine hours, federal officers tore through the 128-room building and even the former first lady’s closets, prohibiting any witnesses and even demanding that security cameras be turned off.

In the aftermath of the highly questionable raid, conservatives and Trump supporters expressed their fury. The general consensus was clear: If the FBI can attack a former president who is both highly popular and expected to run again, then it could be coming after you — the voters who support him — next.

Left-wing media outlets lambasted the rhetoric and blamed the former president himself in the same manner that they falsely accuse Trump regarding the so-called Jan. 6 “insurrection.”

Since the Jan. 6 protesters collectively seemed to have forgotten to bring their firearms to this insurrection, liberal publications like Time magazine have modified their narrative to the theater of the absurd, now declaring, “The mob that attacked the Capitol … began engaging in hand-to-hand combat with law enforcement.”

If Time magazine had its way, we would all believe that Trump, a supposed fascist super-villain full of wily schemes, has a rag-tag army of millions of red MAGA hat-wearing Bruce Lees and Jackie Chans ready to overthrow the government with their mastery of martial arts. (And the legacy media outlets just can’t seem to understand why their ratings are plummeting…)

But is it so crazy to believe that conservative Americans are in danger from a politicized Department of Justice and inexplicably militarized federal agencies?

James O’Keefe and Project Veritas — who have also been questionably targeted by the FBI — published an official memo circulated within the Department of Homeland Security on Friday warning of a “heightened threat of domestic violent extremists.” And who are these “violent extremists,” according to the DHS?

The document states that they are American citizens “motivated by a range of ideologies,” including “the perception that the 2020 presidential election was fraudulent, and other claims of government overreach.” The memo also refers to the upcoming 2022 midterm elections as “a potential flashpoint.” (But don’t worry about O’Keefe or Project Veritas. Legacy media outlets like The New York Times have assured us that they are nothing more than “political spies” and “pranksters.”)

The American people need to understand the ramifications of this DHS memo (and previous documents that echo the same sentiment).

According to an Axios poll (certainly not a conservative source), only 55 percent of Americans believe that Joe Biden legitimately won the presidential election of 2020. That means that the DHS has indicated that 45 percent of the population of the United States harbors the ideology of “violent extremists.”

The concept that the DHS believes nearly half of all American citizens to be a dangerous threat is a nightmare of Orwellian proportions.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is celebrating the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act — a bill that has little to nothing to do with inflation.  Instead, one part of the bill calls for the expansion of the Internal Revenue Service by over 87,000 employees, including armed agents.

To put that into perspective, the increase of the IRS is well over four times greater than the entire Border Patrol — a federal agency that is completely overrun with real threats like drug smugglers, human traffickers and an uncontrolled influx of illegal immigrants… all due to Biden’s disastrous border policies.

Conservative concerns about the IRS are more than founded. We have seen this story before during President Barack Obama’s second term.  Conservative Tea Party groups were blatantly targeted by the IRS, making it difficult for them to operate.

This trend was so disturbing that even Piers Morgan defined it as “vague tyranny” and all but apologized to Second Amendment advocates for his mocking criticism of their position that a constitutionally armed citizenry is vital to ensuring the ongoing freedom of the population. (When Piers Morgan is the voice of reason acknowledging the tyrannical demise of America, we are in some serious trouble.)

Throughout the Obama administration, federal agencies stockpiled weapons and ammunition — all while Democratic politicians screamed that the population must be deprived of their own constitutionally protected armaments. For instance, in 2014 the Department of Agriculture inexplicably sought to purchase .40-caliber submachine guns with burst capabilities as well as over 300,000 hollow-point rounds (which aren’t even used by the U.S. armed forces due to international law).

Why does the USDA — an agency that regulates such activities as farming and dairy production — need weapons and ammunition commonly used for crowd control and urban warfare? They didn’t say, just like the Postal Service and even the Social Security Administration didn’t explain why they were seeking to bolster their own stockpile of ammunition.

The “Inflation Reduction Act” adds over $700,000 worth of bullets to the present IRS stockpile of 5 million. Unlike local police departments that are often railed on by radical leftists, these federal agencies have no accountability or vested interest in the communities they serve; their loyalty is to the political power presently in control of the executive branch.

But the granddaddy of them all is the Department of Homeland Security. During Obama’s second term, the DHS — which only operates on American soil — began the process of acquiring over 1.6 billion rounds, including both hollow points and sniper ammunition. That’s enough armament for DHS agents to shoot every man, woman and child in America… up to five times.

Are we facing a repeat (but even worse) of Obama’s tyrannical methodology?

Keep in mind that a politically motivated IRS audit would allow the federal government to scrutinize an individual citizen’s finances, including contributions to conservative politicians and/or PACs. And if the IRS declares that an individual has aided “insurrectionists” and “violent extremists,” or accuses (excessively or even falsely) an American citizen of tax evasion, those are crimes that allow for armed raids, arrests, imprisonment and the revocation of key constitutional rights, including the rights to vote and own firearms.

Does this sound far-fetched? It shouldn’t; this is exactly what is being done to Trump and his allies.

For weeks now, a one-sided congressional committee has been “investigating” the notion that Trump is a “treasonous leader of an insurrection.” And Democratic New York state prosecutors have been tearing apart the Trump Organization and its officers (with Trump himself being the ultimate target) on dubious accusations of tax evasion that even The New York Times admits are weak and “highly unusual,” which lends credence to Trump’s resounding refrain of “legal witch hunts.”

So we must ask ourselves a very serious question: If conservatives were targeted before by Obama and the IRS, if Trump and his allies like Paul Manafort and Gen. Michael Flynn were hounded endlessly all throughout his presidency, and if Trump and others are still shamelessly targeted by a politically motivated DOJ (that conveniently ignores known offenders like Hillary Clinton, Hunter Biden and Jeffrey Epstein’s clients), then are we as conservative Americans next on the list?

But don’t ask this question too loud. The DHS — with its stockpile of literally billions of bullets — has made it alarmingly clear that expressing such fear about “government overreach” as well as concern about the future of our great and free nation is the sign of a very dangerous person: a “violent domestic extremist.”

Read more at: WesternJournal.com