Reasonable people can and do continue to believe that Trump poses dangers to democracy. I’m not here to argue that they are wrong. Indeed I plan to vote against him for the third time, because I share some of their concerns. But what these well-intentioned people did poses a far greater danger to the rule of law and our constitutional system than anything Trump has done or is likely to do. Their benighted, even if well-intentioned, actions threatened to establish dangerous precedents that lie around like loaded guns, ready for the hand of any tyrant who is ill-intentioned.

It is important therefore that the Durham commission exposed the wrongdoing of these well intentioned government operatives. The real question is whether the agencies involved will take steps to prevent the recurrence of the wrongs documented in the Durham report. These wrongs will not be easy to fix, because they are subtle and often not visible. They inhere in the minds and souls of those who committed them, even if some of their actions are not subject to external checks.

[For my money, it reads more like ‘corrupt people doing bad things’. No one should have to explain “rule of law” to FBI agents and the DoJ, for Pete’s sake. They knew damned well what they were doing and did it anyway, because (a) they valued their politics above their duty, and (b) they knew nothing of consequence would happen to them as a result. For the most part, they were right. — Ed]