Mark Meckler on Mar-a-Lago Raid: Democrats Apathetic, Republicans Energized

'We aren't interested in another investigation, or a commissions or a blue ribbon panel. It's time for the FBI to go.'

A member of the Secret Service in front of the home of former President Donald Trump at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla., on Aug. 9, 2022. Giorgio Viera/AFP via Getty Images

In the aftermath of the Mar-a-Lago raid, Mark Meckler, president of Convention of States Action, says Democrats are apathetic, Republicans and independents are energized, and the FBI has “to go.”

Americans Have Suffered

On one hand, Americans have suffered through much over the past few years. A new Rasmussen survey showed 60 percent of likely U.S. voters believe the country has become more divided since Joe Biden assumed office, an accomplishment some still believe he came by illegitimately. This was preceded by the fear, chaos, and eventual depression and anger inflicted on the world by the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) virus. Then came the protests at the Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021, where unarmed Trump supporters were attacked and killed by Capitol Police officers.

Then came daily reports of protesters being arrested and turned in by neighbors and even family. Some never even went to the Capitol Building. Tip lines were set up, encouraging people to report anyone they suspect of having attended the protest. Hundreds have been imprisoned, most without a trial. Two have committed suicide.

Over the subsequent 18 months, more and more evidence has emerged, lending more and more credibility to widespread speculation that it may very well have been an elaborate and calculated setup.

The Jan. 6 select committee resurrects memories of the two impeachment trials that brought to fruition a goal established before Donald Trump was even nominated to be the Republican candidate for 2016. Then came the raid on Trump’s private residence at Mar-a-Lago.

Americans Are Angry

An online survey by Daily Mail shows over 70 percent of their readers disapprove of the Mar-a-Lago raid. Another (pdf) found that 79 percent of likely U.S. voters interviewed believe “there are two tiers of justice: one set of laws for politicians and Washington D.C. insiders vs one set of laws for everyday Americans.”

Then there’s the national survey of general election likely voters that showed nearly 30 percent of Americans polled said they have gotten more involved in the civic process within the last two years. That’s on top of the 48 percent who said their level of civic engagement has remained the same in recent years. Of those, 81 percent say they are becoming civically engaged because they believe their activism is making a difference.

Opponents of the academic doctrine known as critical race theory protest outside of the Loudoun County School Board headquarters in Ashburn, Va., on June 22, 2021. Evelyn Hockstein/Reuters

The first national survey taken after the FBI raid on Trump at Mar-a-Lago shows 83 percent of Republicans, 72 percent of independents, and 55.2 percent of Democrats are now more likely to vote in the 2022 Midterm Elections as a result of the raid. While only 11.9 percent of Democrats believe Trump’s political enemies are behind the FBI raid on the former president’s private home, 53.9 percent of Independent voters and 76.7 percent of Republican voters believe they are. More striking is that a majority of independents and Republicans believe the raid was unreasonable and that the raid is moving America closer to becoming a police state. Democrats, on the other hand, think such an invasion is completely reasonable.

Asked if the culmination of events over the past few years has caused the shift reflected in recent surveys, Meckler—now President of Convention of States Action—did not hesitate.

Mark Meckler, president of Convention of States Action, speaks at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Dallas at the Hilton Anatole in Dallas, Texas, on Aug. 4, 2022. Bobby Sanchez/The Epoch Times

“I do think there’s a shift going on and I think it’s really interesting the way you framed that question,” Meckler told The Epoch Times, “because it actually fits my perspective and my personal history in politics really well.”

The Tea Party

Meckler reflected upon how his own political activism began around 2009 when he co-founded the largest Tea Party organization in the nation.

“The last time we saw a big political movement was in 2009–2012, and that was the Tea Party movement. Obviously, it transformed the political landscape,” Meckler said.

The Tea Party, as Meckler explained, “had a pretty long tail,” which was ridden to success in many races between its founding in 2009 through the 2016 elections. U.S. Senators like Ted Cruz (R-Texas) and Marko Rubio (R-Florida); members of the U.S. House like Brad Wenstrup (R-Ohio); and former governors like Scott Walker in Wisconsin and Matt Bevin in Kentucky; all owe their victories to the backing of the Tea Party. The same goes for state legislators like Nebraska’s incumbent Sen. Deb Fischer.

Protesters gather on Capitol Hill during the Tea Party Express rally in Washington, on Sept. 12, 2009. Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

For Meckler, the Tea Party movement didn’t accomplish as much as he had hoped. But there is no denying that it “definitely accomplished a lot.”

The MAGA Movement

“What I think we’re seeing now is similar but I would argue more important The reason why I think it’s more important is, while the average age of those in the Tea Party movement was around 50 years old, what we’re seeing now is a political movement that has a lot of younger people involved, which Meckler believes began when 25/30-something-year-old parents began showing up to school board meetings to push back against the effort to indoctrinate their children through critical race theory and radical gender ideology, not to mention their rejection of forced masking and vaccine mandates in the aftermath of the CCP virus.

Patti Hidalgo Menders speaks out against board actions during a Loudoun County Public Schools board meeting in Ashburn, Virginia, on Oct. 12, 2021. Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP via Getty Images

“Parents who would have otherwise just been raising their kids and earning a living while coaching baseball and soccer are suddenly starting to pay attention to politics,” Meckler recalled. “They went to the school board meetings and realized they had a bit of power. Maybe they ran for school board, or knew someone who did, and they turned over a school board. They’re realizing it’s rather enjoyable to be engaged in politics. Rather than just yelling about it, they realized they really can make a difference and they are making a difference. So I think this is very important. I think the MAGA movement is broader than it was back in the days of the Tea Party and I think it has a much longer tail. These are people who are going to be engaged in politics in a much deeper and broader way for the next 50 years. So I think this will have a profound impact in the American body of politics.”

What is most significant about the response to the raid of Trump’s private residence at Mar-a-Lago is that his supporters aren’t the only ones tilting and scratching their heads. Even high-profile Democrat politicians and liberal media outlets have cast concern on the optics of the raid.

Unfortunately, Meckler said the results of the recent survey, conducted by the Trafalgar Group and Convention of States Action, showed that even the dubious circumstances surrounding the Mar-a-Lago raid are having little effect in bringing the two sides together.

No Common Ground

“Independents and Republicans understand the long-term implications of the FBI raid on President Trump; that we either correct this now, make sure it never happens again, or we lose the freedom Americans have fought and died for over many generations. If they can use the federal government to punish their political enemies, we no longer live in a nation governed by the rule of law,” Meckler said in an Aug. 11 press release, announcing the results of the survey. “Democrats overwhelmingly believe this raid was justified, reasonable, and actually strengthens our democracy. That’s because they have been taught that ‘Trump is Hitler,’ and has nothing to do with whether or not this raid was right or wrong. When we can’t see the issues through the personalities, this clearly demonstrates the deep polarization and division in our body politic.”

Secret Service personnel are seen in front of the home of former President Donald Trump at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Fla. on Aug. 8, 2022. Eva Marie Uzcategui/Getty Images

One key insight revealed by the survey is that independents and Republicans have different opinions of the Mar-a-Lago raid.

A majority of independents, nearly 60 percent, believe “the FBI raid on President Trump’s home was not a reasonable step to pursue justice.” Fewer, 41.4 percent, said they believe the raid was “a reasonable step to pursue justice.” Among Republicans, 84 percent believe the raid was not a reasonable step to pursue justice and only 16 percent said it was a reasonable step to pursue justice.

In stark contrast, only 8.5 percent of Democrat voters believe “the FBI raid on President Trump’s home was not a reasonable step to pursue justice.” The overwhelming majority, 91.5 percent, believe it was a reasonable step to pursue justice.

Asked if they believe “the FBI raid on the private residence of a former President of the United States moves America further away from being a freedom based democratic republic,” 58.6 percent of independent voters and 81.8 percent of Republican voters said yes. Where 41.4 percent of independents believe the FBI raid brings America closer to being a freedom-based democratic republic, only 18.2 percent of Republicans feel the same.

Among Democrats, only 12 percent believe the FBI raid on the private residence of a former President of the United States moves America further away from being a freedom-based democratic republic. Again, an overwhelming majority of 88 percent believe the FBI raid brings America closer to being a freedom-based democratic republic.

Where 53.9 percent of independent voters and 76.7 percent of Republican voters believe “Trump’s political enemies are behind the FBI raid on President Trump’s private home,” only 11.9 percent of Democrat voters believe it was politically motivated.

Apathy vs. Energy

A key takeaway Meckler finds in the results of the survey about the raid is that, while Democrats are apathetic about the invasion of someone’s home and actually “favor of this kind of behavior when it goes after people they don’t like,” independents and Republicans are becoming “more energized and involved politically” in an effort to put a stop to it.

“When you look at the polling we just did, 83 percent of Republicans and 72 percent of independents are more likely to vote in the 2022 Midterm Elections as a result of FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago,” he noted. Only slightly more than half of Democrats, 55.2 percent, said they were motivated by the raid to vote in the 2022 midterms.

Interestingly, when you look at the deep-dive of the survey (pdf), Meckler said Hispanics swung further right than white voters. I think that’s an extraordinary underlying shift that is absolutely going to influence the elections, and we’re seeing this in all of our polling, regardless of the questions, across the board. The fact that we’re seeing it on every issue is it’s not a ‘we don’t like Joe Biden vote.’ It’s a ‘we’re not part of the Democrat/leftist culture in America’ vote.”

As The Epoch Times reported, Adam Hardage—the military/Special Ops veteran who briefly planned a protest at the FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., before cancelling in the wake of warnings it could be “a trap”—said that, while the Mar-a-Lago raid “was intended to scare Americans and to intimidate people,” the only thing it really accomplished was to “energize Trump’s base and the MAGA crowd.”

“I would add a nuance,” Meckler said. “It’s broader than the MAGA base, because what Americans are seeing is, ‘If they can do this to the president, they can do it to us.’ So, where there may have been plenty of people who were lukewarm on Trump or were tired of Trump who are looking at this and saying ‘we’ve got to support Trump now because this is so outrageous.’ This maneuver broadens the base of people who were already skeptical of the government and broadens the MAGA base outside of its normal perimeter.”

Corrupt to the Bone

“We have simply never seen this before in American history,” Meckler asserted, speaking of the raid of the private residence of a former president of the United States, and he suggested “people are sick and tired of statements by politicians about how bad” the move was.

“What it’s really time to do is to just get rid of the FBI,” he said bluntly.

The J. Edgar Hoover FBI Building in Washington on July 21, 2022. Chung I Ho/The Epoch Times

While conceding the FBI “does have some important law enforcement functions,” Meckler said those functions can be parsed out to other agencies.

“The FBI is a corrupt-to-the-bone organization,” Meckler insisted. “It basically has been since its founding. J. Edgar Hoover is widely known to have been completely corrupt. It’s the same agency involved in the Russiagate hoax, the Steele dossier, and the fake information given to the FISA court. We’re tired of hearing politicians talk about investigating it. We aren’t interested in another investigation, or a commissions, or a blue ribbon panel. It’s time for the FBI to go. Return the powers to the states that can be returned and distribute the other functions to other entities within the federal government. Congress can figure that out. It’s time to get rid of this cancer that is the FBI in our political system.”

The FBI referred The Epoch Times to AG Merrick Garland’s remarks from Aug. 11 and declined to further comment.