Before the 2016 election, Donald Trump said that if he had to decide, Hillary Clinton would be in prison. He promised to appoint a special investigator to make sure that was the case. But shortly after the election, Trump changed his mind: “I don’t feel so strongly about that”.
Maybe it will be like that this time too.
Many names of enemies
But Trump has a number of people on his “enemies list”:
Joe Biden, “Biden’s crime family”, Kamala Harris, Republican Liz Cheney, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, former CIA Director John Brennan, former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, Democrat politician Adam Schiff, military Mark Milley, Google, Facebook, special Attorney General Jack Smith, District Attorney Alvin Bragg, Attorney General Letitia James, and a bunch more.
One difference now compared to 2016 is that Trump’s rhetoric of retaliation has continued even after the election. Liz Cheney “is in trouble,” according to Trump after a Republican House of Representatives investigation recommended impeachment against Cheney for her actions in connection with the investigation into the storming of the Capitol.
Trump has also sued the Des Moines Register newspaper and a polling institute after a poll shortly before the election showed Trump would lose the Iowa caucus, which he did not.
And so Trump has appointed Kash Patel to head the FBI. Patel has been one of Trump’s most vocal defenders, arguing that federal agencies must purge the “deep state” of bureaucrats who are after Donald Trump. He promised that “conspirators” in the state apparatus and the media will have to taste the consequences if he was given a role in the Trump administration.
The toolbox is there
Whether Trump continues to deliver on his rhetoric of retaliation remains to be seen. But the toolbox is there. Investigations or prosecutions against dissenters are one way to go. Even the person who is acquitted needs to spend many hours and money on the legal process, lawyers and other things.
Another way, which often goes under the radar, is to ensure that people lose their security clearance, something that former government officials often find very useful in the private sector. Politicians in their own party can be challenged by Trump-loyal candidates in primaries.
In a few days, Donald Trump will once again enter the Oval Office. Only then will we see how important Donald Trump thinks retaliation actually is.