By Rick Manning

On May 2, the Daily Caller reported, “House Democrat Warns Trump Team: You’ll End Up ‘Sullied’ Like Ronny Jackson,” writing, “Democratic Tennessee Rep. Steve Cohen warned on Wednesday that members of President Donald Trump’s inner circle will end up ‘sullied’ like former White House physician Adm. Ronny Jackson — if they stick with the president for long.”

On May 2, the Washington Examiner reported, “Ex-Trump aide Michael Caputo warns: Investigations espousing ‘punishment strategy’ to deter future Trump-like candidates, stating, “Michael Caputo, a former Trump campaign aide, said that he doesn’t think anybody should work on a Republican campaign ever again, unless they are compensated for any legal fees that may come out of it. Speaking out Wednesday evening, Caputo also said he believes there is a ‘punishment strategy’ to ‘destroy’ Trump and deter any other billionaires in the future from thinking about running for president. Just out of an interview with special counsel Robert Mueller, Caputo told Fox News’ Tucker Carlson he’s certain that federal investigators are fixated on collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia. Caputo said he firmly believes there was never any collusion. Caputo also griped about the crushing legal costs of being a witness in the Russia investigations. He excoriated the Senate Intelligence Committee on Tuesday in his closing remarks, blaming the investigation for forcing his family out of their home due to mounting legal costs and death threats. He concluded the statement saying, ‘God damn you to hell.’”

On May 3, NBC News reported, “Feds tapped phones of Trump lawyer Michael Cohen, and caught one call with White House: NBC News,” stating, “Federal authorities wiretapped the phone lines of President Donald Trump’s long-time personal lawyer Michael Cohen, NBC News reported Thursday. At least one call between Cohen’s phone and the White House was captured by the wiretap, according to the story.”

The NBC story was later retracted, with Fox News reporting, “Sources with knowledge of the proceedings told Fox News that investigators used a pen register, or dialed number recorder (DNR), on at least one of Cohen’s phones. A pen register records all numbers dialed from a given phone number, as well as the length of each call.”

To believe that the FBI went and got a court to violate the President’s attorney-client privilege via wiretap and did not record the contents of the wiretap, it seems like bull. It’s clearly an attempt to obscure the fallout of this egregious abuse of power, to cover up the fact that the President’s attorney was under surveillance. Either way, it’s surveillance of the President’s attorney.

Are you picking up a theme?

Support Donald Trump and you will be destroyed. It doesn’t matter if the public has ever heard your name, you will be targeted and driven into bankruptcy or worse. The crime? Supporting the President of the United States.

And it is all happening right before our eyes in plain sight.

It is no secret that Special Counsel Mueller is a heat seeking missile with only one goal – to take down the Trump presidency.

It is no secret that senior officials within the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Obama Department of Justice similarly sought to undermine the Trump candidacy and subsequently the legitimacy of his presidency.

It is no secret that the Democrats with the aid of some key Senate Republicans have engaged in full blown obstruction of the President’s ability to staff his own Administration.

And now, anyone can read with their own eyes that the seek and destroy campaign goes beyond just the President and those closest to him, and aims at anyone who had the audacity to work in the Trump campaign, to large donors who support conservative causes, and even to those who dare to fight for traditional constitutional governance.

The message is clear. If you dare step outside the accepted socialist orthodoxy that pervades dominant thought in the United States, you will be silenced.

But they cannot silence the people, and ultimately that is the strength of America. Unfortunately, those who seek to destroy the President and anyone who dares to support him know this and that is what the campaign of intimidation is about.

On the Cohen wiretap, it is an obscene abuse of power for the Department of Justice to use wiretaps or pen registers or whatever on the phone of the President’s personal attorney in an apparent attempt to listen to an attorney/client privileged conversation(s). Whether at least one conversation between someone at the White House and the President’s attorney was recorded or even simply its metadata registered, this brazen judicial abuse should have civil libertarians apoplectic.

Of course, the reality is that the left can justify any action, no matter how egregious, in their effort to take down President Trump.

In the mid-terms, the people will decide if they want to reward those who are engaged in a silent coup, not just against Trump, but also against the very premises of our constitutional republic of innocence until proven guilty and the right to free speech and political activity. President Trump was elected in spite of the D.C. swamp, and threats from the swamp will do nothing but show the people who the real swamp creatures are. If the people want to maintain their freedoms, they better be taking names also.

It is clear to anyone who is paying attention that those who vowed before the election to impeach Trump if he won will stop at nothing to end or disable his presidency. We can no longer be shocked by this ongoing abuse of prosecutorial power, the only question is how long the American people will tolerate it.

Rick Manning is the President of Americans for Limited Government.