# Did the US secret police fail in its duty of maintaining regime stability during the 2016 election? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [May 21, 2018, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548 "2018-05-21T10:31:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 16\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/241 "2018-05-23T19:35:10Z")
And why did they let you out? ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 7:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/242 "2018-05-23T19:47:54Z")
Lonely Farnaby, crying out for human love, stopped by the statists. Lonely Farnaby, He suffers for all of us, Rage as hot as fire. Lonely Farnaby, Wants to make some human friends, Can’t stop insulting. Lonely Farnaby, Only he knows the real truth, Sheeple can’t get it. Lonely Farnaby, Mighty tilter at windmills, But always losing. Lonely Farnaby, One day I hope you’re happy, and find human love. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/243 "2018-05-23T21:49:55Z")
> [@Morgenstern](#): > > Please answer this question Will. There is a lot riding on your answer. Parlor bet or drinking game? ---
**Author:** ![Ukulele\_Ike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/df788c/32.png) [@Ukulele\_Ike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ukulele_Ike)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/244 "2018-05-23T22:34:35Z")
**iiyiiii:**. Nice. Also, “William Farnaby” scans as “Miniver Cheevy” if you pronounce it “William Far-NAH-bee.” [http://www.poemtree.com/poems/MiniverCheevy.htm](http://www.poemtree.com/poems/MiniverCheevy.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2018, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/245 "2018-05-23T23:54:57Z")
> [@Banquet Bear](#): > > There don’t appear to be any real US secret police organizations. So are you talking about Division? The Earth Protection Force? The Kingsman? To be fair, the Kingsmen mumbled so badly during “Louie, Louie” that they could actually have been issuing covert instructions to the secret police. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/246 "2018-05-24T01:26:56Z")
Farnaby, this isn’t a courtroom drama and you’re certainly no Perry Mason. > [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Secret police exist and have existed in various forms for quite a while. Dispute? But they don’t exist in the United States. Your premise stipulated that there is a US secret police. Or were you simply trolling? > [@](#): > > They act in secret against regime opponents. Dispute? Actually, for a secret police to engender fear and compliance, they really do need to operate in the open. While their specific actions may be concealed from the public, that doesn’t mean that the secret police themselves are. > [@](#): > > The US government has a police force and intelligence community. Dispute? Actually, the United States government [does not have **a** police force; it has a number of law enforcement agences](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federal_law_enforcement_in_the_United_States) none of which is a secret police agency. > [@](#): > > In the past these agencies have spied on and committed acts of aggression against regime opponents. Dispute? Do you refer to other countries’ secret police (KGB, Gestapo, etc.) or to the list I just linked? If the former, then yes, those agencies have, but that is irrelevant to US law enforcement. If the latter, then, what are you on about? The US does not have a “regime” or a dictatorship, notwithstanding Trump’s recent commentary to wanting to try out being president for life. > [@](#): > > They have also manipulated media and pushed pro-regime propaganda. Dispute? Huh? > [@](#): > > Many leaders of these agencies have disgraced themselves through their connection with a policy of torture, mass surveillance and perjury. Dispute? Which agencies? > [@](#): > > Recently, they acted through intermediaries like Steele and Halper to meddle in the affairs of regime opponents. Dispute? What regime? > [@](#): > > Calling these agencies secret police, while perhaps hyperbolic, is not a conspiracy theory. Dispute? Nope, you’re still in conspiracy theory territory. Oh, and as you admitted up thread, you’re still trolling. ---
**Author:** ![Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/try2b_comprehensive/32/65_2.png) [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 4:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/247 "2018-05-24T04:20:06Z")
I don’t think this is trolling. I think this is an oblique way of addressing trauma sustained though an imprisonment experience. Real jail? Maybe. And the jailing was in response to \_\_\_\_\_\_\_. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/248 "2018-05-24T04:30:56Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#): > > I don’t think this is trolling. I think this is an oblique way of addressing trauma sustained though an imprisonment experience. Real jail? Maybe. And the jailing was in response to \_\_\_\_\_\_\_. to … unpaid parking tickets ? 'Scuse me, I have to run down to City Hall with my checkbook… ---
**Author:** ![MarvinKitFox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@MarvinKitFox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarvinKitFox)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/249 "2018-05-24T08:41:38Z")
Judging by the OP, the Secret Police did indeed fail in their duty of supplying sufficient tin-foil hats for use in your general region. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 9:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/250 "2018-05-24T09:00:09Z")
> [@WillFarnaby](#): > > Ah yes, I’m sure Mueller will reveal some earth-shattering collusion, that helped Trump a great deal according to you, and not simply hit Trump and/or associates with money-laundering charges or something similar that is irrelevant to Russian collusion. Firstly, I note that we’ve gone from “ha ha you think Putin is hiding in your closet” to “The Mueller investigation is unlikely to bring significant charges based on Russian collusion and will instead focus on money laundering.” What kind of long-distance shipping rates did you get for those goalposts? Secondly, as we both well know “collusion” is not in itself a crime but rather a layman’s shorthand for a raft of crimes committed with the intent to influence the US election. These include various forms of fraud and violations of election laws, particularly those around funding. And as we both know, the Mueller investigation has already indicted several people on related charges and is investigating several others, which is why you’ve had to caveat your position to require any crimes to be “earth-shattering” to avoid looking like an even bigger fool than you already do. Thirdly, while many types of “collusion” are not in themselves illegal, attempts to impede or obstruct investigations into them may very well be, which is likely to be one of the areas where any “earth-shattering” crimes will be found. And finally, I note that we’ve now established that my concerns about Russian involvement in the last US election remain well-founded and well-substantiated, and your theories about secret police remain hyperbolic and insane. ---
**Author:** ![Monty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/monty/32/47_2.png) [@Monty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Monty)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/251 "2018-05-24T09:08:34Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > What kind of long-distance shipping rates did you get for those goalposts? Well done. ---
**Author:** ![John\_DiFool](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_difool/32/19543_2.png) [@John\_DiFool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_DiFool)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/252 "2018-05-24T18:44:07Z")
It’s up, and it’s…wide right. And just short. Always short. And always wide. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/253 "2018-05-24T18:50:14Z")
I’ll step out on a limb here and attempt to read the OP’s mind a bit. I don’t think he is actually insinuating that the United States is run by secret police or that there is a Gestapo/Big Brother machine that runs everything as puppets. I think he is deeply frustrated and angered by how society allowed someone like Trump to get elected, and his post is a passive-aggressive statement to that affect. He is essentially saying, “I want there to be accountability for what happened - how Trump got into the White House - and as an indirect way of extracting this accountability, I am going to claim that a super-secret cabal was running things, or ought to have. Deep down, I don’t actually believe it, but I want us to get on the topic of holding America and its electorate accountable. By claiming an absurd theory like a secret police’s existence, at least I am highlighting how wrong it was that Trump got elected.” By analogy, it’s like a fan of a losing Super Bowl team spinning elaborate theories about how the refs were paid off, how much the bribes were, and how the game is rigged…due to a series of highly dubious officiating calls made against his team in that Super Bowl. Chances are, he doesn’t actually truly believe the NFL is rigged (as in, if you offered him, “Want to bet your life savings on whether the league really is rigged or not?” he’d have to say no, because deep down he knows the odds of it all being rigged are too low to take that bet.) Rather, his spinning of elaborate conspiracy theories is an indirect way to vent, to let off steam, to say, “Why were those dubious calls made?? We need to address the terrible officating and not sweep it under the rug.” ---
**Author:** ![Ravenman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ravenman/32/2929_2.png) [@Ravenman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ravenman)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/254 "2018-05-24T18:54:06Z")
That’s all very charitable to trying to make his point less bizarre… but let’s remember that he believed Trump was the real “peace candidate” in 2016, and has often made remarks to the effect that Abraham Lincoln was among the worst presidents in history because of his cold-blooded campaign of murder. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2018, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/255 "2018-05-24T18:55:28Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > I’ll step out on a limb here and attempt to read the OP’s mind a bit. I don’t think he is actually insinuating that the United States is run by secret police or that there is a Gestapo/Big Brother machine that runs everything as puppets. > > I think he is deeply frustrated and angered by how society allowed someone like Trump to get elected, and his post is a passive-aggressive statement to that affect. He is essentially saying, “I want there to be accountability for what happened - how Trump got into the White House - and as an indirect way of extracting this accountability, I am going to claim that a super-secret cabal was running things, or ought to have. Deep down, I don’t actually believe it, but I want us to get on the topic of holding America and its electorate accountable. By claiming an absurd theory like a secret police’s existence, at least I am highlighting how wrong it was that Trump got elected.” > > By analogy, it’s like a fan of a losing Super Bowl team spinning elaborate theories about how the refs were paid off, how much the bribes were, and how the game is rigged…due to a series of highly dubious officiating calls made against his team in that Super Bowl. Chances are, he doesn’t actually truly believe the NFL is rigged (as in, if you offered him, “Want to bet your life savings on whether the league really is rigged or not?” he’d have to say no, because deep down he knows the odds of it all being rigged are too low to take that bet.) Rather, his spinning of elaborate conspiracy theories is an indirect way to vent, to let off steam, to say, “Why were those dubious calls made?? We need to address the terrible officating and not sweep it under the rug.” Obviously you’re not familiar with the OP, who has been personally insulting anyone who works for the government/military for many years. He really, really hates us, and doesn’t even try to hide it. ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [May 25, 2018, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548/256 "2018-05-25T21:39:03Z")
Yeah, the guy thinks the Union winning the War of Northern Aggression is the second-worst thing to happen to America, second only to the illegal ratification of the Constitution in 1787. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-us-secret-police-fail-in-its-duty-of-maintaining-regime-stability-during-the-2016-election/814548.md?page=12)