Matthew Llaneza (Part 9)
Fragments of a future narrative
Last November, the McCourtney Institute for Democracy conducted a poll. The survey found “that a much higher proportion of Democrats than Republicans say that they trust the Federal Bureau of Investigation and that they believe FBI agents are fair.”
It was the latest in a series of reports, dating back to Trump’s presidency, on fading Republican support for the Bureau—a “catastrophic” trend, according to Vox; reflective, for NPR, of a broader “toxic brew of mistrust toward U.S. institutions.”
The families I’ve spoken with—the Varnells; the Cornells—suggest another take: that cratering support is positive: that opposing the Bureau, whatever the motivation, is a healthy default stance.
It’s not just the FBI stings that drew Drake and Raheel into the penitentiary system. It’s the repercussions this undercover work has for their families.
I haven’t spoken to Steve Llaneza, Matthew’s father. But his experience was much like Melonie Varnell’s, or John Cornell’s. Peter Bergen details it in United States of Jihad.
On February 8, 2013—the morning of Matthew’s arrest—“Steve was woken by loud banging on his front door and he sprang out of bed to find a group of officers outside his house and police cars everywhere.”
Open this door before we bust it down, one officer yelled. Steve opened the door slowly, and the officer pushed in, pointed his gun at him.
“I feel like my country’s turning into one that you must be afraid of,” Steve confessed. “I hate my life now. I hate that America’s turned into this.”