As a former police chief, I have always believed that the rule of law is the bedrock of our democracy. When I wore the badge, I swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, not to serve a political leader or party. That oath meant protecting the rights of all people, even when it was inconvenient or unpopular. It meant standing between citizens and the abuse of power.
That is why I am deeply alarmed by what we are now witnessing in our country. David Frum’s recent article (below) in The Atlantic, “The Comey Indictment Is Not Just Payback.” It underscores what many of us fear: that a president is prepared to use the machinery of government to punish his enemies and silence dissent. This is not politics as usual. This is an attack on the very foundation of the rule of law.
I know from experience how fragile public trust can be. When citizens see the law applied unevenly or manipulated for political ends, they lose faith not only in their leaders but in the institutions that are supposed to protect them. Police officers on the street feel this erosion every day. If those at the top treat justice as a weapon, it filters down, poisoning the relationship between law enforcement and the communities we serve.
We must not be complacent. History shows us that when leaders place themselves above the law and target their opponents, civil rights vanish quickly, and restoring them is far harder than we imagine. Frum’s warning is clear, and as someone who has spent three decades in local policing, I share it with urgency: we must defend the Constitution now, before it is hollowed out by those who see it only as an obstacle to power.
This is the moment for both citizens and those of us who have worn the badge to take a stand. Police officers must remember their oath is to the Constitution, not to politicians who would misuse their authority. And citizens must stay informed, speak out, and hold leaders accountable before the rule of law is further eroded. Democracy does not defend itself — it relies on people of conscience and courage to step forward. The warning signs are here. The question is whether we will act in time.
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The Comey Indictment Is Not Just Payback: It’s an Advance Glimpse of Trump’s Next Attempt to Seize Power
By David Frum, The Atlantic
SEPTEMBER 25, 2025
President Donald Trump recently ordered his attorney general to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey, and tonight, the Department of Justice delivered an indictment of Comey for lying to Congress. Comey, for his part, insists on his innocence. But the charges against Comey are not just about the president’s abuse of his power for personal retribution. They represent a test of the president’s plans for the future.
Since the assassination of Charlie Kirk, Trump and his top aides have spoken of their plans to bring cases against people who give money to anti-Trump causes. “My administration will find each and every one of those who contributed to this atrocity and to other political violence, including the organizations that fund it and support it, as well as those who go after our judges, law enforcement officials, and everyone else who brings order to our country,” Trump said on September 10.
In real life, there is no known evidence that any organization funded Kirk’s assassin. But there are donors to left-wing causes that Trump wants to defund. In the White House today, the president signed an order to investigate those donors. He cited the liberal donors Reid Hoffman and George Soros as potential targets. In April, Trump ordered an investigation of ActBlue, the Democratic fundraising platform.
Trump faces a very immediate problem. He and his family have already amassed an enormous fortune in the first nine months of his second term, in great part from gifts and deals with foreign powers. That behavior is likely to be investigated if Trump’s party loses control of either house of Congress in November 2026. Trump’s bad economic management has put that control at extreme risk. His overall approval numbers have dropped to the very low 40s; his economic management, to the mid-30s. Grocery prices are up, and electricity prices are rising even faster. If honest congressional elections were held today, the Republicans’ two-seat margin in the House of Representatives would vanish. The protective screens for Trump’s self-enrichment would vanish with it.
The president is driven by intense ego needs. He hates Comey for his roleinvestigating Russian interference in the 2016 election—as he hates his own former national security adviser John Bolton for refusing to comply with his scheme to extort Ukraine in 2019.
But Trump is also a gifted survivor, with a keen instinct for the weaknesses of individuals and nations. The American justice system is only as good as the people who staff it. Led by Kash Patel and Pam Bondi, the system can be an abundant resource for a president who wants to use the law to frighten opponents away from the political process. Troops in the streets of Washington, D.C., have deterred residents from going to bars and restaurants in 2025. Those troops could be used to dissuade residents of blue cities in red states from standing in voting lines in 2026. Selective prosecution can be used to cut the flow of money to Democratic candidates.
Yes, Trump’s politicization of the Department of Justice is a backward-looking expression of hurt feelings. It’s also another step in a forward-looking plot to shred the rule of law in order to pervert the next election and protect his corruption from accountability. James Comey’s rights and liberties are not the only ones at risk today. So is your own right to participate in free and fair elections in order to render a verdict on Trump’s invasion of those rights and liberties. Trump understands the stakes—and has been astoundingly transparent about his intentions. Will you listen and understand as clearly as he speaks and threatens?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
David Frum is a staff writer at The Atlantic
Improving Police: A Necessary Conversation 
As a graduate of the Academy I am of the opinion that this man deserves whatever the current administration throws at him. He presided over a “sick” culture at the FBI.
As an alternative, consider what we heard today from the Secretary of War.
As most folks have heard, the defense department is now the department of war, pending an official name change by congress. The Secretary of War gave a speech that clearly articulates the meaning of this change and the cultural implications. This is gong to be a profound study in organizational development.
In any organization, it’s the culture that drives member behavior over all else. Leaders have the obligation to clearly articulate the mission and how to be successful, then they need to set up a system that reinforces the standards until those standards becomes part of the culture. The Secretary clearly spelled that out, adherence to the standards, competency, and merit will be the keys to success for all members of our military.
Leaders exist at the executive, managerial, and line levels and consist of dedicated members and supervisors who uphold the standards, sometimes formally, and sometimes informally, by providing a positive example worthy of imitation as well as “gentile pressure relentlessly applied.” Those who rebel against the standards need to undergo an “unanticipated career change.”
The mission of the military is war, the mission of the police is law and order. Those missions have been denigrated over decades with vague calls for “equity” and “social justice.” The results can be seen in the Middle East and Eastern Europe where our influence has diminished, and on the streets of many of our once great cities. Nations cannot prosper without a strong military who are trained, equipped, and firmly oriented toward war. Communities cannot prosper without police who are trained, equipped and firmly oriented toward keeping the peace and addressing unlawful behavior.
History clearly tells us that the surest path to peace is to prepare for war, peace through strength, where adversaries choose peace because they fear annihilation. Similarly, the surest path to prosperity in our communities are police leaders and officers who are educated, trained, equipped and oriented toward keeping the peace. This means confronting the uncivilized, disorderly, and criminal behavior that, when left unaddressed, become the norm. Especially for the poor who lack the choice to just leave.
Just like in the department of war, leaders at all levels need to feel supported in their efforts by a community and an organizational culture that upholds professional standards and is unwilling to abandon them because influential and seemingly powerful individuals and groups think they are “insensitive” or not “inclusive.” The focus is firmly on keeping the peace and great police officers do not shy away from confronting those who threaten it. Great police agencies support them in those efforts.
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Pat, let’s assume for a moment that you are right—that the FBI, like many other large institutions, struggles with cultural problems that demand attention. The question then becomes: how do we best bring about real improvement? From my experience in both policing and the military, I’ve learned that lasting reform never comes through attack, ridicule, or political punishment. It comes through principled leadership, accountability, and a commitment to our constitutional values.
That’s why I find the current rhetoric so troubling. Rebranding the Department of Defense as the “Department of War” may sound tough, but it does not reflect the complexity of today’s world. As a Marine veteran, I know that our strength depends not only on physical readiness, but also on advanced skills, technology, and the inclusion of every talented person willing to serve—men, women, people of all backgrounds. To dismiss that is to weaken ourselves, not strengthen us.
Similarly, undermining the FBI, the Department of Justice, or our military does not make our nation more secure. Diversity in a free society is one of our greatest assets. In the end, it will be the skill, intelligence, and integrity of our people—not fear, not muscle—that preserve both our freedom and our place in the world.
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Comey brought this on himself when he release the Hillary emails 90 days before the presidential election in violation of federal law and now he is paying the price for it. Just shows that the American police are not impartial no matter how you tried to say that they are not.
Nations can not prosper without a strong economic, social, and labor safety net for the workers and not be at the mercy of the wealthy people and corporations. That is the surest path to prosperity.
Thanks to not taking corporate, white collar crime seriously, uncivilized, disorderly, and criminal behavior has become the norm in America and you can blame the wealthy and the corporations for it.
“History clearly tells us that the surest path to peace is to prepare for war, peace through strength, where adversaries choose peace because they fear annihilation.”
Yeah, and when you look at history, you have more years of war instead of peace.
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