In a time of widespread disagreement and seemingly unprecedented American division, almost everyone agrees on one thing.
The FBI’s reputation is in shambles.
The bureau that was once revered with utmost respect and dignity has now dropped the ball so many times and outraged both sides of the political spectrum beyond comprehensible reasoning that it’s actually uniting Americans. There’s no way around it, the FBI has gone down the toilet.
Now that might sound harsh. Most people were raised to treat government establishments staffed with self-sacrificing patriots with deference. But it’s gone too far. Maybe the FBI has become too much of a behemoth of a bureaucracy that it can’t get out of its own way. Maybe it’s hired too many self-serving egoists who want a crack at swaying our politics. Maybe it’s crumbled under years of poor leadership. Perhaps it’s a combination of all three.
Regardless of the reason, the fact that the FBI is touting their sting of Arizona basketball coach Sean Miller like some earth shattering victory is a travesty. They overlooked multiple tips reported by responsible citizens on Nikolas Cruz – who later killed 17 individuals. They overlooked complaints against Larry Nassar while he proceeded to assault dozens of women under their nose. They likely overlooked several explicit warning signs from the San Bernadino killers. They still haven’t acknowledged their failure to follow up on warning signs leading up to Omar Mateen’s massacre at the Pulse Nightclub in Orlando. They downright botched the investigation after James Pollock gunned down 58 people outside the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas. And everyone knows they completely took their eye off the ball before 9/11.
If I were the FBI, I would be ashamed of this NCAA sting. Coaches cheating in college basketball is meaningless compared to the thousands of people killed during these other attacks. Cheating is immoral but who cares if a kid gets a car for choosing a one college over another? In the grand scheme of things, an Acura means a lot less than the dozens of families mourning the loss of their high schooler.
It’s not like this NCAA investigation was done in a back office of Nebraska, either. This was done in the southern district of Manhattan – the heavy hitting office made famous for busting notorious criminals like John Gotti. Until the FBI wants to start getting its priorities straight, until its agents are less preoccupied with ‘insurance policies’ for a Trump victory and more concerned about murders, its reputation will remain in shambles. And it deserves every bit of negative PR it deserves.
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