I’m surprised that most people in america didn’t see this coming. It’s been clear that “winning” has been the strategy for the republicans and they’ve been doing it consistently for decades now.

They’ve shown up at elections, they’ve shown up for local elections, they’ve worked for every single advantage in power they could get. I mean these are the chaps who suffered a massive electoral defeat to Obama the first time and found their mettle by saying “one term president” like a mantra. They converted that into a fight for every micro meter.

Eventually anyone m would also realize that “winning” (at all costs) is the strategy that works and adopt it. The best strategies get adopted by market players.

The media environment for the past many decades now ensures that bipartisanship won’t work either.

Maybe it’s an incorrect cultural reading on my part,

I don’t disagree with your characterisation, but I do disagree with the idea that it is republicans alone. Unfortunately this has been the way both parties have operated for a long time. The democrats have also done their fair share of abuse of power just in the last 4 years.

Sure, i don’t doubt there’s work on the Dem side when it comes to abuse of power.

>in the last 4 years

I’m talking 30 years. The last 4 years are just end results of other forces.

Also - america has never produced an event like the trump presidency. Does that feature when we discuss abuse of power in the last 4 years?

I know of no Democrat action that is comparable.

The use by Obama of the FBI to investigate his political opponent during a presidential campaign, on a basis of an improbable opposition research report is unprecedented and to say the least, controversial. Imagine the outrage if any republican president had done that.

Not saying this is only the last 4 years. I agree, at least 30 years. But no, it is not the action of a single party.

Was there any indication this was Obama directing the FBI to behave this way, or that this was an established pattern of behavior? There’s a very important difference between a mistake or an error in judgement vs an established pattern of behavior and engagement of illicit behavior by the president himself (as with Trump offering a pardon to Assange to deny ties to Russia in the DNC hack after failing to have Ukraine fallaciously smear Biden).

"You can't prove it" isn't a terribly convincing defense.

Making insinuations and accusations without any kind of evidence is even less convincing, no?