In Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, Mark Antony stands over the murdered leader’s body and repeats with cold irony: “For Brutus is an honorable man; so are they all, all honorable men.” The line works because the audience understands that the repeated claim of honor is itself the accusation. We have been living inside our own version of that scene. 

For years, a network of officials in the intelligence community, the FBI, and the permanent foreign-policy apparatus presented themselves as the last defenders of democratic norms. They spoke constantly of duty, institutions, and a “higher loyalty.” They told the country that extraordinary measures were required to deal with an unacceptable threat. When their actions were questioned, they protested too much.