Irony of ironies, the Democrats
are beating the Republicans at
their own game. They have wrap-
ped themselves in patriotism, co-
opted allegiance to the flag, use
of the language of faith and de-
fense of the FBI and Department
of Justice, bulwark institutions
of US conservatives. But they
are doing it for very different
reasons. Democrats used
to criticize the federal instit-
utions for surveilling those
who protested legitimately
against a government acting
illegally and now they are up-
holding the institutions who
are trying to hold account-
able a government admin-
istration acting illegally
while the Republicans
(going far beyond where
any Democrats went in
previous protests) seem
to be saluting a despotic
old Communist.