- New Hampshire Republicans spent the weekend defending Trump during a Senate debate.
- One who called for a review of law enforcement got booed by the conservative crowd.
- "It's time to abolish the FBI and replace it with nothing," countered another debater.
Calling for a review of the FBI, rather than retaliating against the federal law enforcement Trumpworld wants destroyed after last week's search of Mar-a-Lago, got Senate hopeful Kevin Smith booed during a debate at which New Hampshire Republicans tried to out MAGA one another.
Smith stepped in it Sunday, the New Hampshire Journal reported, by not being as reactionary as attendees of the Trump-aligned Government Integrity Project gathering would have liked.
"I believe at its core, it's a good institution, and I believe there are fine men and women who want to do their jobs and want to protect us," Smith said of the FBI. The audience audibly disapproved of the moderate position.
Two of the other candidates vying to challenge incumbent Democratic Sen. Maggie Hassan this fall — failed 2020 Senate hopeful Don Bolduc and first-time candidate and crypto currency advocate Bruce Fenton — leaned into the outrage Donald Trump has been stoking online ever since federal agents retrieved highly sensitive documents from his Florida home.
"It's time to abolish the FBI and replace it with nothing," Felton told the crowd.
"You shouldn't be able to raid a former president's house at any time," Bolduc offered in his defense of the embattled former president.
The FBI and Department of Homeland Security report that threats against federal investigators are on the rise as Trump supporters pine for "civil war" and "armed rebellion" online. One user of Trump's Truth Social messaging hub was killed August 12 after attacking an FBI field office in Cincinnati.
New Hampshire's primary elections are scheduled for September 13. Democrats control all four of New Hampshire's congressional seats.
Hassan is seeking her second term this fall. She won 48% of the vote in 2016. President Joe Biden beat Trump there by seven points in 2020.