The television was on. The voices came through the screen. The same men. The same lies.
They were old now. They had gray hair and soft hands. They did not run missions anymore. They did not hide in the dark. They sat under studio lights, in air-conditioned rooms, drinking coffee from cups with network logos on them. The men from the FBI. The men from the CIA. The men who had listened to phone calls and read secret files and sent men to die.
They did not need to hide anymore.
A man named Brennan sat in a chair. He had been the head of the CIA. He had lied to Congress. He had lied about spying on the Senate. Now he was here to tell you what was true. A man named Clapper sat next to him. He had sworn under oath that the NSA was not spying on Americans. That had been a lie too. Now he was here to tell you who the enemy was. The enemy was whoever they said it was.
It had not always been this way.
There had been a time when men knew the FBI was dangerous. When men knew that the CIA was not their friend. When men knew the Bureau did not protect democracy, it protected the people who owned democracy. They had destroyed men. They had wiretapped King. They had sent letters to his wife, saying he was with other women. They had tried to make him kill himself. They had done the same to Malcolm X. To the Panthers. To the men and women who spoke too loudly, who organized, who thought they could change the way things were. The Bureau had gone into their homes, their offices, their meetings. They had made sure that everything ended badly.
And now the Bureau was on television, smiling. The same men. The same voices. The same lies.
There was a new man now. He had yellow hair and a heavy body and small hands. His name was Trump. He had come to tear it all down. That is what he said. They hated him. They said he was a fool. He was. But he was not the only fool.
The people sat at home and watched the screen. They nodded along. They believed. They had once shouted Down with the FBI. Now they said Save the FBI. They said Protect the CIA. They said These men will keep us safe.
A man named Kash Patel had told them they were being lied to. He had written it down. They had called him a liar. Then they had called him a fool. Then they had called him an extremist. They did not call him right. Even when he was.
Someone said If Trump destroys the FBI, he will just replace them with his own men.
They said it as if it mattered. As if the men who ran the Bureau now were not already someone’s men.
That was the trick.
They had made people defend the men who had spied on them. The men who had lied to them. The men who had ruined lives and told them it was for freedom.
The Bureau was not good. The Agency was not good. But the people believed it now.
The screen flickered. The men nodded. The people nodded back.
And the lie went on.
