Under Obama and Biden, our intelligence agencies turned against their true masters — the American people. Programs like Quiet Skies were not tools of justice, nor shields against terrorism. They were tools of control. Federal Air Marshals trailed citizens like Tulsi Gabbard, recording their bathroom trips, tailing them to baggage claim, and listening in on private conversations — all without charges, probable cause, or any intention of ever stepping foot in a courtroom.
That last point is the key.
When intelligence officers gather information with no plan to prosecute, they step outside the framework of law. Courtrooms require evidence, procedure, and accountability. Surveillance without judicial oversight is something else entirely: a political weapon.
James Clapper himself showed us the rot in 2013 when he lied under oath to Congress about NSA mass data collection. His punishment? A cushy analyst job on CNN. Meanwhile, whistleblowers who dared to tell the truth faced prison or exile. That double standard wasn’t an accident. It was policy.
And here’s the terrible brilliance of it: if you never intend to use surveillance data in court, you are freed from every constitutional limit. No need to justify a warrant. No need to explain yourself to a judge. No need to meet the standard of proof. You can spy on anyone, gather everything, and use it only where the Constitution cannot reach — in the backrooms of politics, in blackmail files, and in lawfare campaigns meant to destroy reputations rather than win convictions.
This is what Obama and Biden’s Washington perfected. It wasn’t about stopping terrorists. It wasn’t about catching criminals. It was about creating a permanent surveillance class that kept power over the citizenry. “The distinction between people who believe bad thoughts and people who do bad things,” as one FBI agent put it, has been erased. Now, thoughtcrime is enough.
The Return to Blind Justice
Trump, for all his battles, has taken a hammer to this rotten edifice. Quiet Skies was ended under his administration, and more programs like it are on the chopping block. He understands that surveillance without prosecution is tyranny, that spying without warrants is not counterterrorism but counter-sovereignty. He is dragging the swamp creatures into the sunlight, where evidence must be tested, not hidden — where prosecutions must be lawful, not political — and where government serves its people, not blackmails them.
This is the dividing line of our age. Do we want to live in a republic of laws, where evidence is presented in court, and guilt or innocence is judged in daylight? Or do we accept the shadow state, where secret files and endless spying keep free men in quiet fear of their rulers?
Trump is fighting to restore lawful prosecution. His enemies cling to lawfare persecution. And that is why dismantling this unconstitutional surveillance regime is not just a policy battle — it is the very heart of the fight to Drain the Swamp.
