A couple of weeks after joining his party’s national ticket, then-Sen. JD Vance was eager to ease the minds of voters concerned about Donald Trump and his retaliatory tactics. Trump, the future vice president said at the time, is “not a vengeful guy.”
Even at the time, it was a bizarre assertion, contradicted by voluminous evidence that Trump routinely seeks revenge against political foes, real and imagined. But even after the election, Trump suggested vengeance wasn’t part of his plans for a second term. “I’m not looking to go back into the past,” he said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” shortly before Inauguration Day, adding, “Retribution will be through success.”
It didn’t take long for reality to get in the way.
Initially, the president tried to settle scores in petty ways, moving portraits and canceling security clearances for those who didn’t have active clearances anyway. But soon after, the Revenge Tour became more serious, as the Republican stripped officials of their security details, even after they’d faced threats.
Trump’s interest in partisan vengeance against his perceived foes, however, continues to intensify. My MSNBC colleague Jordan Rubin explained:
A ‘criminal referral’ sounds serious, but it doesn’t force prosecutors to file charges against anyone. Still, New York Attorney General Letitia James could have reason to worry about a Trump administration official’s push for her to face federal charges — even if she didn’t break the law.
Rubin’s piece adds, “James, of course, leads the office that secured the massive civil fraud ruling against Trump and others last year (it’s on appeal).”
The president, evidently, hasn’t forgotten.
All of this comes on the heels of the president directing the Justice Department to go after Christopher Krebs, who led the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency; which came on the heels of Trump pressing the Department of Homeland Security to investigate Miles Taylor, a former high-ranking DHS official.
The president did this, not because there’s evidence of Krebs or Taylor having done anything wrong, but because they defied him several years ago. They went on his enemies list, and now he’s exacting revenge.
This roughly coincided with a Trump-aligned federal prosecutor going after New Jersey’s Democratic governor, Phil Murphy, for resisting the White House’s agenda; which came on the heels of a purge of U.S. military leaders whom the president no longer likes; which came on the heels of a Justice Department purge of law enforcement officials he also doesn’t like. But there are also plenty of stops on the Republican’s Revenge Tour that have nothing to do with individual people. That broader list includes law firms (which hired lawyers he perceives as enemies), universities (which hired faculty he perceives as enemies), leading news organizations (which covered him in ways he disapproves of), and cultural institutions (which he believes failed to align themselves to his vision). Axios recently noted, “In the final days of the 2024 campaign, Axios identified a list of perceived adversaries who fit what Trump ominously described as ‘the enemies from within.’ As president, he has taken steps to retaliate against virtually all of them.” That was a month ago. The problem is vastly worse now, and there’s no reason to believe conditions will improve anytime soon. This post updates our related earlier coverage.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."
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