In James Bond movies, the super villain often has a sprawling, secret lair, from which he conducts his various schemes aimed at world domination and global chaos. Relatedly, the malefactor is often shrewd, sophisticated and urbane. All that makes for a more entertaining and compelling narrative.

This summer, however, the top espionage story is far more stupid and ridiculous. At the same time, it could not be more ominous.

On Aug. 8, FBI agents executed a legally obtained search warrant on the premises of Mar-a-Lago, the Florida property where Donald Trump lives, golfs, posts to social media and, apparently, hoards things. A federal judge approved the warrant because the U.S. Department of Justice provided specific evidence that there was probable cause to believe that Trump was in violation of several laws, with implications for national security.

The National Archives and Records Administration is the nation’s record keeper. The Presidential Records Act is the relevant law to enforce the keeping of those records.

The law requires each president to ensure the preservation of records documenting all official duties; the law further requires each president to allow the National Archives to take custody and control of the records when that president leaves office. This law is not about the “handling of paper;” it’s about the right of citizens to know what their elected officials are doing and to hold them to account.

In a Bond movie, sometimes the villain’s scheme gets undone by his own arrogance or hubris. In this summer’s stupid narrative, we see that Trump was more than familiar with the Presidential Records Act, because he himself signed the legislation making a violation of the law a felony.

Nonetheless, he stubbornly delayed and refused to turn over most of the documents with which he had absconded. When he did return several boxes, Archives personnel were shocked by the sensitive nature of some of the documents. When the DOJ learned that there were likely many more highly classified documents at Mar-a-Lago, being stored haphazardly, they sought and obtained a search warrant.

What they discovered was shocking.

FBI agents found dozens of documents with classified markings, scattered in various locations around the property, unsecured and unprotected. Some of the documents with the highest classification markings were found intermingled with photos, gifts, clothes and press clippings.

None of the material was stored in a manner consistent with the security protocols required by law. It’s sort of like James Bond finding Goldfinger’s plans to rob Fort Knox mixed in with take-out menus from Taco Bell.

The documents Trump willfully withheld from the government reportedly include information about nuclear weapons programs and strategies, and also information gleaned from human intelligence. This could easily put the lives of clandestine American operatives in immediate and clear danger. On its face, Trump’s arrogant defiance of the US national security laws is likely a violation of the Espionage Act.

If a Bond villain acted with this same combination of stumbling ineptitude and sinister brazenness, almost certainly his fellow criminal entrepreneurs would abandon him faster than Ted Cruz fleeing to Cancun when it’s cold. But not today’s national Republicans. Despite the horrendously damning evidence of Trump’s misconduct, GOP leaders refuse to distance themselves from their own bloated Blofeld.

The same party leaders that cynically wrap themselves in the flag, and wail about protecting our borders, are perfectly content making excuses for their Dr. No accountability, who purposefully refused to return national secrets, and at the same time allowed them to be exposed to any manner of bad actors.

In 2019, a Chinese national was arrested at Mar-a-Lago carrying phones and other devices after she left the public reception area and was found in the private, supposedly secure, areas of the property.

Last month, it was discovered that a woman who was falsely claiming to be part of the Rothschild banking family, had gained unauthorized access to Mar-a Lago. The woman, a Ukranian national, was allowed to enter the property without presenting identification or being questioned by security. Her lawyer claims, cryptically, that she was acting under the influence of a former employer.

Moreover, Trump hires some 90 foreign workers every tourist season to serve as waiters, cooks and housekeepers. The Trump organization has to date refused to explain how these workers are vetted or cleared for security.

Rather than condemn Trump’s intentional disregard for national security, Republicans have instead vilified federal law enforcement.

One GOP representative screeched, “Defund the FBI!” A Republican senator essentially threatened the DOJ with mob violence from Trump supporters, if prosecutors enforced the rule of law.

Republicans are now so thoroughly complicit in Trump’s misdeeds that anything that jeopardizes him politically or legally also jeopardizes them. And to protect Trump, and themselves, they’ll turn on anyone or anything: cops, voters, the Constitution, and even the protection of the nation itself.

While James Bond prefers his martinis shaken, not stirred, it’s disgustingly apparent that today’s Republican Party accepts its national security laws broken and blurred.

– Sean Quintal writes on behalf of the La Mesa Foothills Democratic Club.