'Defund the FBI' after Mar-a-Lago? What happened to conservatives' love for the badge?

Their love for law enforcement is no more.

Conservatives’ blind support for the badge ended on Monday after the FBI’s search of Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home.

The “Defund the FBI” rallying cry came from the deepest corners of the MAGA world, from Georgia’s Marjorie Taylor Green to Colorado’s Lauren Boebert to Arizona’s Paul Gosar.

“We must destroy the FBI,” Gosar wrote on Twitter. “We must save America.”

Demonize 'defund the police,' then call for 'civil war'?

Their wrath at the nation’s primary law enforcement agency erupted after the FBI executed a search warrant at Trump’s Florida home, an unprecedented move against a former U.S. president.

No details yet from the Justice Department about what evidence the FBI agents were looking for, though media outlets reported it dealt with mishandling of classified documents.

Whatever it was, conservatives quickly took up the anti-police slogan – defund the police – that they’ve demonized for more than a year.

They sensed the urgency to inject the same slogan into the already boiling bloodstream of conservative America itching to escalate their fight into a full-blown “civil war.”

“This is one of the darkest days in American history,’’ Kari Lake, the Arizona GOP nominee for governor said in a statement. “We must fire the Federal Government.”

Lake’s rant that no one is safe under the “illegitimate, corrupt Regime” that “hates America” grew louder beyond the MAGA underbelly after the FBI raid.

Do they support the rule of law or not?

Ironically, these are the same folks who until now put their hands in the fire for anyone wearing a badge – as long, of course, as law enforcement used it against certain segments of the population.

Unannounced home raids against Black or Latino people? No problem.

No-knock warrants or stop-and-frisk policies that packed prisons cells across the country with people of color? No problem.

Chokeholds such as the one that killed George Floyd and which sparked national protests and calls to defund the police? No problem – at least not until the Democrats took over and prohibited the tactic last year.

A lawful FBI search warrant at Trump’s home? All hell breaks loose and Trump’s Patriots want to wage a “civil war” over it.

I’m not minimizing the seriousness of raiding the home of the former U.S. president. That has never been done, and the FBI better be on rock solid ground for doing so.

But the hypocrisy of the rule-of-law crowd can’t be lost anyone.

Do they now support defunding the police? Or does their love of law enforcement only remain intact when it is weaponized against certain segments of the population or others they deem as enemies?

Elvia Díaz is the editorial page editor for The Republic and azcentral. Reach her at 602-444-8606 or elvia.diaz@arizonarepublic.com. Follow her on Twitter, @elviadiaz1.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Defund the FBI over Mar-a-Lago? MAGA has no love for the badge