Skip to content

FISA renewal passes House—unfortunately

Donald Trump wanted Congress to kill renewal of the FISA surveillance program:

Trump had urged members to “KILL FISA” in a social-media post Wednesday, and holdout Republicans then blocked the bill from proceeding, forcing leaders to scramble to rework the proposal.

....While dozens of mostly minor changes geared at safeguarding privacy were included, an amendment vote to add a warrant requirement failed Friday in a nail biter of a vote, with 212 in favor and 212 against.

I wish the House had added a warrant requirement. It's not as if the FISA court ever turns them down. I could even have accepted a streamlined warrant requirement—just something to keep the FBI honest. Even if you accept that its massive violations of surveillance rules are mostly honest mistakes, many of them aren't. Requiring a warrant is the best way to cut that down.

So does this mean I agree with Trump? Not even a little bit. Trump doesn't give a hoot about warrants. He wanted the entire program killed out of personal pique. He thinks the program is used to spy on him, so he wants it gone.

But the program doesn't spy on him and it does spy on lots of potential terrorists. This is a good example of how Trump's disordered mind is genuinely dangerous. His ego makes him the center of everything, and if he were president he presumably would have killed renewal completely, thus ending an important national security program. All because he's nuts.

15 thoughts on “FISA renewal passes House—unfortunately

  1. bbleh

    Yabbut he tells it like it IS. And Biden is OLD. And border immigrants poisoning our blood lazy inner city welfare moochers end of America as we know it, also, too!

    1. aldoushickman

      As long as we are doing animals, I've always thought he's more clever like a rat or a raccoon. Not smart in any absolute sense of the word, but smart enough to need constant watching lest he work his way into someplace he doesn't belong and make a mess of it.

  2. D_Ohrk_E1

    He thinks the program is used to spy on him, so he wants it gone. [...] But the program doesn't spy on him and it does spy on lots of potential terrorists.

    Sure, he's not being spied on. But, on some level, he is aware that he either does or might want to associate with terrorist-supporting folks and state actors interested in subverting American power, all in the service of his unquenchable greed. Tsk, tsk.

    1. bbleh

      See? There you libruls go again, with your "facts" and your "citations." But Real Americans like Real President Trump go with their (ample) guts, and they don't need yer stoopid "facts."

  3. royko

    I'm with you. I can accept surveillance, but there always have to be some checks and balances or else it will be abused.

  4. cld

    All because he's nuts.

    Homer Simpson watching King Kong, looking sad, being towed out to sea, *sniff!* Just because he's different.

  5. D_Ohrk_E1

    Trump earlier today admitted he's a stochastic terrorist: "I’m able to tell people what’s happening. And those people get extremely angry with what’s happening."

  6. Jasper_in_Boston

    Question asked out of ignorance: we used to hear quite a bit about "FISA Courts."

    Does this bill eliminate those? What is their purpose if not to issue warrants?

Comments are closed.