“You’ve Done This to Me, So I’m Going to Do It to You” Trump’s Expanding Enemies List as Elections Approach

A recent study by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW) has highlighted a concerning trend: as the November election nears, Donald Trump is reportedly intensifying his threats against perceived adversaries, with implications of using federal power for retribution should he win a second term. This analysis was conducted through an examination of over 13,000 messages from Trump’s Truth Social account, including his “re-truthing” of posts from followers that target his critics.

David Smith of The Guardian sheds light on the findings, noting, “The presumptive Republican nominee has threatened to use the federal government to go after Biden during a second Trump administration 25 times since the start of 2023.” These threats encompass a range of punitive measures, including FBI raids, investigations, and even imprisonment, targeting a broad spectrum of individuals from senators and judges to members of Biden’s family and various non-governmental organizations.

Robert Maguire, CREW’s vice president for research, expressed concern about Trump’s rhetoric. “He is promising to go after what he perceives to be his political enemies. He is promising to essentially weaponize the government against anyone he sees as not sufficiently loyal or who is openly opposed to him,” Maguire stated. He further explained that Trump’s narrative of being a victim of “trumped-up charges” seems to justify his retaliatory stance in his view, encapsulating this with, “He has constantly seeded this idea that the numerous charges against him are trumped-up charges and it seems almost to have given him license to openly say, ‘You’ve done this to me, so I’m going to do it to you.’”

While the report acknowledges that Trump has moderated his more violent language recently, the implications of his statements remain deeply troubling. Maguire emphasized the importance of maintaining the integrity of federal law enforcement agencies. “It is critical in making sure that law enforcement and the Department of Justice – all of the things that that entails, both the federal prosecutors and the FBI – cannot be manipulated by the president to go after political enemies.”

This study brings to the forefront the potential dangers of a presidency that could seek to use its powers not just for governance but for settling scores, raising alarms about the implications for justice and democratic accountability in the United States.