Where's Yezhov?

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is wondering if anyone is making a list of Trump “sycophants.”She tweeted, “Is anyone archiving these Trump sycophants for when they try to downplay or deny their complicity in the future?I foresee [the] decent probability of many deleted Tweets, writings, photos in the future.”She should know that Maxine Waters had already revealed the existence of a list.Waters claimed, “The President (Obama) has put in place an organization with the kind of database that no one has ever seen before in life.That’s going to be very, very powerful.”The Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin also confirmed that there is a list by tweeting, “Any R now promoting rejection of an election or calling to not to follow the will of voters or making baseless allegations of fraud should never serve in office, join a corporate board, find a faculty position or be accepted into ‘polite’ society. We have a list.”

DNC press secretary and Obama campaign spokesman Hari Sevugan tweeted. “We're launching the Trump Accountability Project to make sure anyone who took a paycheck to help Trump undermine America is held responsible for what they did."Michael Simon an analytics expert who led analytics efforts on Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign tweeted, “The Trump Accountability Project will be a permanent record of every staffer, appointee, donor, enndorser (sic) and enabler.”Wajahat Ali a New York Times contributor tweeted, “You can’t heal or reform the GOP who are now an extremist party.They have to be broken, burned down and rebuilt.When Biden is in power treat them like the active threats to democracy they are.If those who committed crimes aren’t punished then they be be more emboldened.”President Clinton’s Labor Secretary Robert B. Reich tweeted, “When this nightmare is over, we need a Truth and Reconciliation Commission. It would erase Trump’s lies, comfort those who have been harmed by his hatefulness, and name every official, politician, executive, and media mogul whose greed and cowardice enabled this catastrophe.”Michelle Obama reminded us, “Let’s remember that tens of millions of people voted for the status quo, even when it meant supporting lies, hate, chaos, and division.”

Who are these Trump sycophants?According to Arizona’s Secretary of State Katie Hobbs they are more than just deplorable.She tweeted, “Donald Trump has made it abundantly clear he’s more interested in pandering to his neo-nazi base than being @POTUS for all Americans.”They support “lies, hate, chaos, and division.”They “advocate the rejection of an election.”They are members of “an extremist party that is an active threat to democracy.”They are also The Singing Nuns, a traditional Catholic Sisters organization designated by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a hate group.The Little Sisters of the Poor are also liable to be “investigated.”Another unlikely deplorable is Jonathan Turley.  He was not deplorable until he testified at President Trump's impeachment trial.He is not certain that he will be a target, but he certainly is.He offers a tongue-in-cheek strategy to avoid retribution.He knows this is futile: "I am not sure if I will be one of those found 'complicit.' While I have repeatedly criticized Trump, I testified at the impeachment hearing as the only Republican witness. So, let me cut to the chase. I am ready for reform. I am frantically assembling my columns criticizing Trump to clutch pathetically to my chest through any public shaming. It is not clear if any of us can still redeem ourselves as cooperative subjects for reeducation but, I am prepared to give up names (starting with my editors). I will immediately embrace everything from Biden’s consideration of unprecedented court packing to Elizabeth Warren’s call for unconstitutional wealth taxes as really good ideas. Just give me a chance."

A list in itself is not a problem.Millions of lists are compiled for a variety of reasons.It is what is done with the list that can make it dangerous.Maxine Watershas suggested that people should assemble a mob: “Let’s make sure we show up wherever we have to show up. And if you see anybody from that cabinet in a restaurant, in a department store, at a gasoline station, you get out and you create a crowd. And you push back on them. And you tell them they’re not welcome anymore, anywhere.”She might ask Sen. Rand Paul or Rep. Steve Scalise how effective this tactic is.Whoopi Goldberg gave a passionate critique of list making, pointing out that one day the list makers would wind up on a list.Progressives prefer to mention Sen. Joe McCarthy’s “list,” the Hollywood blacklist, or Richard Nixon’s “enemies list.”They would never mention the list of Polish officers massacred in Katyn Forest.Where are America's Dzerzhinskys, Yetzovs, Berias, and Yagodas.They were professionals who really knew what to do with a list.Their counterparts are out there.If you believe America does not have them would you be interested in purchasing a bridge?