Trump’s campaign team is currently strategizing to leverage the power of the federal government to retaliate against his political adversaries if he secures a second term next year. Even some of his fellow Republicans, as well as former staffers from his first administration, have expressed concern that these plans pose a threat to American democracy.
During his recent public appearances, Trump has made repeated statements about seeking retribution against those who oppose him, including a pledge to appoint a special prosecutor to pursue President Biden for unspecified offenses. In addition, he has referred to left-wing Americans as “vermin,” language commonly used by authoritarian leaders to dehumanize their political opponents.
When challenged on these statements, Trump’s campaign has dismissed criticism as part of “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” claiming that it’s baseless and an attempt to discredit the former president’s return to the White House.
Reports from The Washington Post indicated that Trump has expressed intentions to deploy the Department of Justice to investigate officials from his first term who have since criticized him, including former White House Chief of Staff John F. Kelly, former Attorney General William P. Barr, former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Mark A. Milley, and former Trump White House special counsel Ty Cobb.
It has also been indicated that Trump plans to dismiss tens of thousands of career government professionals and replace them with his allies and to refuse to spend congressional appropriations on programs he opposes. Furthermore, his crackdown on illegal immigration is said to include using military funds to build detention camps, using a public health emergency law to shut down asylum requests at the border, and ending birthright citizenship for babies born in the U.S. to undocumented immigrants. Additionally, he plans to send the military into Mexico to combat drug cartels, even without the Mexican government’s consent.
Prominent Republican elected officials, conservative legal scholars, and veterans of Trump’s first term have criticized these intentions as detrimental to the justice system and the rule of law. Some notable objections include those of former Rep. Liz Cheney, President George H.W. Bush-appointed former federal appeals court Judge Michael Luttig, and former Assistant White House Counsel under President Ronald Reagan.
Former Trump-appointed Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has emphasized the importance of nonpartisan prosecutorial decisions and has condemned White House interference in individual cases for political reasons, while former Trump administration national security adviser John Bolton has raised concerns about Trump’s decision-making in the national security space. Lastly, Republican Senator Mitt Romney has expressed his views on Trump, saying that the former president represents a failure of character that has deeply affected the nation.
