John Bolton FBI raid reeks of Trump administration fascism | Opinion
This morning, federal agents showed up at Donald Trump’s former national security adviser-turned-critic John Bolton’s house to serve a search warrant in what the administration says is an investigation of classified information leaks. I suppose that could be true, but there is a large burden of proof on the Trump administration to explain why this is all above board and not retaliation against a critic.
The number of reasons to be distrustful of the Trump Justice Department is long, but here are just a few:
Within hours of taking office this January, Trump took the petty and vindictive step of stripping Bolton’s Secret Service protection. The protection had been granted when intelligence agencies during the Biden administration determined that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard was plotting to kill him for his efforts to get Trump to confront Iran over its nuclear weapons program during his first term.
Kash Patel, the director of the FBI, referenced the action against Bolton in a vague post on X — “NO ONE is above the law… @FBI agents on mission” — Friday morning. That’s another vindictive touch from a Trump appointee who, in part, owes his job to a book he wrote on the legal cases against Trump that named Bolton to an enemies list of deep state allies out to get Trump.
In answering questions Friday morning, Trump himself told reporters “I am not a fan of John Bolton.” Trump has said worse on X, even suggesting that the former diplomat misused classified information and putting a target on Bolton’s back among Trump supporters. “For a guy who couldn’t get approved for the Ambassador to the U.N. years ago, couldn’t get approved for anything since, ‘begged’ me for a non Senate approved job, … gets fired because frankly, if I listened to him, we would be in World War Six by now, and goes out and IMMEDIATELY writes a nasty (and) untrue book. All Classified National Security. Who would do this?”
And there is little daylight between the Justice Department and Donald Trump’s personal political interests. Attorney General Pam Bondi was one of Trump’s defense attorneys during his impeachment trials and a key ally in the years since. There is little reason to think she would take such high-profile action without consent from her boss, who has shattered traditional Justice Department independence from White House meddling.
If there is anything that Trump and his key aides abhor, it is disloyalty to the MAGA cause, which they define as whatever Trump says it is. Trump fired Bolton because Bolton wanted to bomb Iran. During the first term, bombing Iran was beyond the pale; now it is MAGA policy.
We’ll see what additional information comes out about this search, the judge who approved it and the investigation behind it, but for now, the Trump Justice Department’s move to go after a loud critic smells more like targeted retaliation than disinterested justice. To me, this is the first step the Trump administration has taken that reeks of the fascism Trump’s critics have so frequently alleged. This time Trump appears to be directly aiming to silence a critic. That’s right out of the fascist playbook.
David Mastio is a national columnist for McClatchy and The Kansas City Star.
This story was originally published August 22, 2025 at 12:41 PM.
