Amid all the news these last few days about the first 100 days of Trump 2.0, there has been little written about one of his most important agenda items, and few questions about it by the various pollsters. We do know that he’s underwater everywhere, starting with his flagship issues of the economy and immigration. He ran on those issues, so it’s important to know what America thinks about his performance so far. But Trump had another flagship issue that was a big part of his appeal to his most fervent followers:
The Washington Post/ABC/IPSOS poll asked what people think of Trump “taking measures against his political opponents,” which doesn’t exactly address the question of “retribution” (some might think it’s about policy). But even then, 53% disapprove to 33% approve. The New York Times-Sienna poll asked whether Trump was exceeding his power (88% said yes), but that doesn’t address this specific question either. 57% agreed that Trump shouldn’t be allowed to withhold funding for universities in the Reuters Poll, which can be considered an act of political retribution, but is one that derives more from the right-wing extremists around Trump, such as the culture warriors who have been battling the allegedly liberal academy for decades.
The polls have looked at Trump’s gross abuse of power in some ways, such as the administration potentially ignoring court orders and congressional prerogatives, and majorities really don’t like it. But as far as I can tell, there were no questions asking people if they approve of Donald Trump’s vengeful actions against his political enemies. And that’s strange since there have been a boatload of them.
One of the first actions Trump took when he assumed office was to pardon all the Jan. 6 rioters. He considered that a priority because he saw their prosecution as a direct attack on the Big Lie that he had actually won the 2020 election. He reportedly was offered some names of violent criminals who should be kept behind bars and he said “f**k it — release ’em all,” which gives us some idea of his mindset when it comes to his personal vendettas.
He soon had the Justice Department fire 12 prosecutors assigned to the cases. His Acting U.S. Attorney for Washington D.C., Ed Martin (who happened to have been involved in the defense of some of the defendants), ordered an investigation into how the prosecutions were carried out. Prosecutors were told that they had committed a “grave national injustice.” Martin has also notified one of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s deputies that he is investigating the “integrity and legality” of the Russia investigation, suggesting that the Mueller team is in the crosshairs as well, which is almost certainly the case since Trump has said for years that they should all be jailed.
Meanwhile, the administration has targeted one of his major antagonists, New York Attorney General Letitia James, who led the civil prosecution against Trump for which he was found liable for nearly half a billion dollars over his fraudulent valuations of Trump Organization properties. The Federal Housing Finance Agency sent a criminal referral to the Department of Justice, accusing James of mortgage fraud.
The administration has pulled the security clearances of numerous lawyers and former government officials, Trump has personally called out for investigation, including some who are now unable to work in their field. For instance, a lawyer Trump wanted investigated in the first term, Mark Zaid, represented the whistleblower who raised concerns about Trump’s “perfect phone call” with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. That led to Trump’s first impeachment, and now Zaid is no longer able to represent anyone who might want to access the whistleblower protections. The message this sends to anyone who might represent such a client is pretty obvious.
And then there are the law firms, some of which were singled out for representing people Trump doesn’t like and others who may have employed attorneys he has faced in court, such as Covington & Burling, which assisted Special Counsel Jack Smith, and Perkins Coie, which represented the Dominion Voting Machine Company in its defamation suits against the right wing networks that spread Trump’s Big Lie. Others have been targeted supposedly for their “DEI policies” (which the administration fatuously asserts are violations of the Civil Rights Act) and have shamefully bent the knee by agreeing to do pro bono work for the administration, which Trump seems to believe makes them his personal legal servants. What it does do is take them off the table as defenders of anything that might benefit his enemies or threaten him. Luckily, some of these law firms are suing the administration rather than capitulate to his threats, and the courts so far do not seem amused.
There are also the aforementioned universities, most of which seemed poised to give Trump whatever he wanted, but after a (supposed) mistaken moment of overreach, the biggest of them all, Harvard, decided to fight back. That, too, is going to be decided in the courts. Then there is the media, which he is personally suing in a couple of cases. He has the FCC going after others and is banning other reporters from working inside federal buildings.
He’s pulled the security details from anyone associated with the Biden family except the former president himself because he’s bound by law (and probably worries that it could blow back on him when he finally leaves office). And he’s singled out several people who worked in his former administration whom he sees as disloyal, starting with the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley. He had his security clearance removed, despite still being under threat, and is now under investigation by the Pentagon for “undermining the chain of command” under some kind of administrative action. Milley, for his part, was preemptively pardoned by former President Joe Biden.
Perhaps most ominously, Trump recently issued orders to the Department of Justice and Department of Homeland Security to investigate Trump’s former cybersecurity expert Chris Krebs and pulled the security clearances of everyone in the company he now works at as well. Krebs’ crime was to say that the 2020 election was secure, the truth. And Miles Taylor, Trump’s former Chief of Staff to the Department of Homeland Security Secretary, who later revealed himself as the author of an infamous anonymous New York Times op-ed that claimed people inside the administration were keeping Trump in check, is also the subject of a DHS investigation at the direction of the president. He’s targeting specific people now for serious criminal investigation.
That’s just the tip of the iceberg.
The entire Department of Justice, under the leadership of Attorney General Pam Bondi, is being turned into a Trump revenge machine. They’re even targeting judges whom she has declared to be “low-level leftists who are trying to dictate President Trump’s executive powers.” If an attorney general using those words doesn’t make your blood run cold, you’re not paying attention.
Trump promised to do this even in the face of pressure from his campaign and allies not to. He will not stop until and unless the courts tell him he has to. If they do say he’s gone too far, the question then is whether he will once again abuse his power and defy them. Even a large majority of Republicans don’t want him to do that. But considering all he’s done already, we have to be prepared for the possibility that he may just say, “f” it as he did with the J6 pardons. His thirst for revenge is unslakable.
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