The day after Donald Trump dramatically declared he was the "persecuted" victim of an "FBI raid," a debate erupted over how big a deal this really is. As Trump fundraised off his imaginary victimhood, some folks (including myself, full disclosure) assumed this must be important, for the FBI to go to all this trouble. Other folks insisted Trump is just stubbornly clinging to otherwise irrelevant classified documents, and that the "raid" was closer to the government coming to fetch an overdue library book.
Late Tuesday, reports from both the Washington Post and the New York Times pointed to the latter theory, with the Times noting that the "agents carried out the search in a relatively low-key manner," even avoiding wearing their FBI jackets. If that turns out to be true, then the situation is disappointing, but somehow even more sinister. It would suggest Trump is hanging onto these documents for the same reason a serial killer keeps jewelry from his victims, as a trophy to caress whenever he wishes to reminisce over his destructive power and gloat about how he got away with it all.
