The fluid way that the left has suddenly pivoted to a new line of attack on law and order, with multiple voices being raised seemingly overnight, certainly looks suspicious to say the least. In an op-ed over the weekend at the WaPo, former California Senator Barbara Boxer (D) pours her heart out to the nation about one of her lasting regrets. She was one of the members of Congress who voted to create the Department of Homeland Security following the attacks of 9/11. And now she wants everyone to know how sorry she is for that terrible mistake. Of course, it probably wouldn’t have been such a terrible error were it not for… you guessed it… the Bad Orange Man.

Here are the three words that no elected official, serving or retired, wants to say: “I was wrong.”

Throughout my career, I was known for taking some very lonely votes. But I made a mistake in 2002 when I voted to create the Department of Homeland Security, which had been recommended by a number of members of Congress in the wake of the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 the year before.

Looking back in the congressional record, I could hear the doubts in my voice.

Boxer goes on to point out how Presidents Bush (43) and Obama selected “talented, caring and competent” people to lead DHS. But the Bad Orange Man has not, leading to federal goons harassing the “overwhelmingly peaceful” protesters who are struggling against police violence toward Black citizens. So the creation of DHS was obviously a “mistake” and she wants us all to know how sorry she is.

Right on cue, in fact, within a matter of hours, the New Yorker published a column by staff writer Jonathan Blitzer. The title probably says it all. “Is it time to defund the Department of Homeland Security?” Mimicking Boxer’s words, Blitzer references the “mostly peaceful demonstrators.” He then goes on to bemoan the situation and ask what agents from ICE and CBPP are doing “in the streets of U.S. cities nowhere near the border, policing citizens who have broken no laws?”

Not for nothing, Jonathan, but when you’re setting fire to federal courthouses and firing rockets at cops and federal agents, I’m pretty sure you’ve violated the odd law here or there.

The author then goes on to carp about how the budget for DHS has grown over the years, primarily going to immigration enforcement. So after this lengthy history lesson, does he have a suggestion about what should be done? Of course he does.

Is there anything that can be done at this point to curb D.H.S.’s heedlessness? When the news from Portland first broke, Democrats in the House were having internal discussions about how to handle the department’s budget for the coming fiscal year. It’s a thorny topic in the caucus, with members split between a desire to target appropriations for legitimate security needs and an increasing wariness of D.H.S.’s broader enforcement functions.

There you have it. It’s time to defund the agency responsible for preventing terrorist attacks and protecting our borders. And we must do it in the name of stopping “Trump’s goon squad” from harassing peaceful people exercising their First Amendment rights.

Blitzer’s New Yorker colleague Masha Gessen chimes in on the same day, claiming that DHS “was destined to become a Secret Police Force.” It’s almost as of this message was sent out from some central planning office to blanket the media in a blitz attack. But no, I must be just paranoid. I’m sure it was all just a massive coincidence.

The Department of Homeland Security wasn’t created perfectly, but it’s been streamlined over the years in a series of needed course corrections. And given the state of the world today and the number of enemies who are always looking for an opening against the United States, we probably need them now more than we ever did. Domestically, the department represents one of the few, flexible tools the White House has available to attempt to curb the rioting engulfing our cities and restore the rule of law in places where police departments are overwhelmed and increasingly outgunned. But if it scores points against the Bad Orange Man, let’s just cut their funding, right? Sometimes these people are so predictable that it makes my head hurt.