Setting aside the ludicrous idea that something is a "matter of survival" for the party currently controlling every single branch of the US government, what you said is still wrong and just an excuse for weak leadership.

Following that thought path literally anywhere just leads to the party in question being actively worse than the thing they claim to fight against.

A competent leader would see something abusable, an opportunity for corruption, and take steps to prevent its abuse.

Weak, corrupt leadership sees an opportunity for corruption and says "$core! They did it fir$t!". And that's how we lose. All of us I mean.