Former President Donald Trump pitched a novel idea on Truth Social yesterday following his bizarre arraignment in Manhattan. He called on Republicans in Congress to “defund” the FBI and the Department of Justice. His suggestion was quickly jumped on from both sides of the aisle and compared to leftist calls to defund the police. At PJ Media, our colleague Robert Spencer makes the argument that Trump may be onto something and presents a case for why this should be attempted. He also argues that Trump’s critics are incorrect in describing this as being analogous to defunding the police. But this really isn’t something we should be rushing into as far as I’m concerned. The two defunding ideas being debated both have pitfalls. And one would be impractical while the other is likely impossible. Here’s the intro to Spencer’s analysis which you can read in full at the link above.

Donald Trump said it in an all-caps message on Truth Social Wednesday morning: “REPUBLICANS IN CONGRESS SHOULD DEFUND THE DOJ AND FBI UNTIL THEY COME TO THEIR SENSES. THE DEMOCRATS HAVE TOTALLY WEAPONIZED LAW ENFORCEMENT IN OUR COUNTRY AND ARE VICIOUSLY USING THIS ABUSE OF POWER TO INTERFERE WITH OUR ALREADY UNDER SIEGE ELECTIONS!” The usual suspects are enraged, but really, where was Trump wrong? Do American taxpayers really need to subsidize agencies that have become the enforcement arm of the authoritarian Left?

Fox News’ Steve Doocy illustrated yet again how dedicated Fox is to alienating its customer base as he asked a panel, while grinning wryly at Bad Orange Man’s absurdity, “Apparently today, Donald Trump has uh, called for America to defund the police, particularly the FBI, the Department of Justice because the Democrats have weaponized law enforcement.

First, I will agree that Donald Trump did not call for “defunding the police.” And Robert draws an important and accurate distinction between weakening the actual police forces trying to fight crime on the streets and the highly politicized and weaponized forces inside the Department of Justice.

But the same conservative rules applying to the police should apply to the DoJ. When you come across a police force where there are obvious performance problems or even corruption, you don’t eliminate the entire force. You get rid of the bad apples and make sure their replacements have the proper training and experience to perform professionally.

The same should be said for the FBI. The fact that there are FBI whistleblowers coming forward shows us that these problems are not entirely endemic throughout the Bureau. Many of the agents who have taken part in predawn raids of conservative targets probably didn’t like the plans but they also didn’t want to have their careers abruptly terminated.

This is one area where the current congressional investigations could be put to good use. The leadership of the FBI should be examined closely and the people making these decisions should be removed. They need to be replaced with professionals who honor the rule of law above any political party or consideration. Perhaps some others further down the food chain might have to go as well. But most of the rank-and-file agents should be able to get back on track with the right leadership in place.

As for defunding the entire Justice Department, that really can’t even be on the table. That would be a case of going after a mosquito with a shotgun. It might feel satisfying, but the collateral damage would be significant. If we manage to get a good person in as the Attorney General who makes it clear that such politicized policies will not be tolerated and the careers of all involved will be on the line, things could be squared away at the DoJ in short order.

In other words, it’s never going to be a good idea to “defund” any agencies and activities that we legitimately need. Reform is always preferable to removal.