The Dark Art of Political Intimidation Explained in 5 Minutes and 15 Seconds

If you’ve been reading my writings for the past few years, you’re pretty familiar with the dark arts of political intimidation perfected by the federal government.  

In a new Prager U video, the Wall Street Journal’s Kimberley Strassel — author of The Intimidation Game — explains that this has become the norm in American politics. She explains that it works in three new ways:

1. Harass
2. Investigate and prosecute
3. Blackmail

You guys remember how the Obama administration weaponized the IRS?  In a stunning show of federal abuse of power, the IRS admitted at the highest levels to targeting, harassing and intimidating tea party, Christian, pro-Israel and other conservative groups. Their intimidation undermined the ability of ordinary Americans to express themselves and freely participate in the democratic process during a hotly contested Presidential election. Did it affect the results of the election?

We’ll never know. (By the way, Citizens for Self-Governance filed the only class action lawsuit against the federal government to hold them accountable for their actions.  We are honored to come alongside citizens who are fighting back against a malicious government set out to destroy our freedoms.)  Strassel uses this example to show how the government tries to harass every day citizens into political silence. (Guess what?  The Tea Party activists are not going to be intimidated by the feds.  No matter what.)

To illustrate the investigate and prosecute method, she talks about a horrific abuse of power in Wisconsin, which was written about by National Review‘s David French in several articles.  He wrote, “Wisconsin prosecutors used an obscure provision of state law to launch a secret investigation into alleged illegal “coordination” between conservative organizations and the Walker campaign. In one day, a local judge named Barbara Kluka approved hundreds of pages of subpoenas, petitions, and search warrants.”  He goes on to write:

Then prosecutors acted. In a coordinated series of dawn raids, armed police officers raided the homes of conservative activists, barging into sleeping children’s rooms, confiscating cell phones and computers, carting off files, and ordering the targets of the raids to keep quiet. Despite the fact that the raids occurred in full view of the public, the victims were unable to defend themselves: They couldn’t tell friends or family, and they couldn’t talk to the media. A cloud of suspicion hovered over their lives. 2 killed, 9 injured in gas explosion at Minneapolis school.

Strassel’s Prager U clip is a succinct and clear explanation of many of the cases we’ve written about over the years.

Watch it below and share: