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Jabin Botsford

<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/donald-trump/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">Donald Trump</a> has vowed, repeatedly, to weaponize state power against his political enemies if granted a second term.

Voters should take him at his word, for two reasons: First, he tried to do this before, marshaling government might against individuals, demographic groups and specific businesses. He<b> </b>was constrained only by courts and uncooperative aides. Second, he’s assembling the infrastructure necessary to clear these obstacles next time.

In recent remarks, the former president has pledged to pulverize his opponents if he reenters the Oval Office. During an <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/09/trump-interview-univision/" target=_blank>interview last week on Univision</a>, for instance, he spoke of deploying the FBI and the rest of the Justice Department against political rivals in retaliation for their alleged persecution of him.

“If I happen to be president, and I see somebody who’s doing well and beating me very badly, I say, ‘Go down and indict them,’” he said. “They’d be out of business. They’d be out of the election.”

A few days later, in a <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/12/trump-rally-vermin-political-opponents/" target=_blank>Veterans Day address</a>, he vowed as president to “root out the communists, Marxists, fascist and the radical-left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.” This was no heat-of-the-moment slip; he blasted out the same phrasing on social media, too.

This rhetoric would be horrifying even if one didn’t interpret it literally, given the history of authoritarian leaders who have compared disfavored groups to “vermin.” And it can be genuinely hard to know whether it’s useful to amplify such ugliness, since Trump thrives on attention.

But voters deserve to know what Trump intends to accomplish in a second term. These words are not idle threats or “locker-room talk.” They are campaign promises and should be treated as such.

How do we know? Look at the track record from the last time he was president.

Earlier this year, in a sworn statement, Trump’s former chief of staff John F. Kelly said his <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/07/10/all-ways-trump-not-his-foes-sought-weaponize-government/" target=_blank>boss had discussed</a> having the Internal Revenue Service and other federal agencies harass two of the FBI officials who had investigated ties between his 2016 campaign and Russia.

Separately, Kelly also <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/13/us/politics/trump-irs-investigations.html" target=_blank>told the New York Times</a> that Trump wanted to have other perceived enemies audited or investigated as well, including former CIA director John Brennan, Hillary Clinton, and Amazon founder and Post owner Jeff Bezos. Kelly said he did not cooperate. (Trump has since told advisers of plans to sic the Justice Department upon Kelly himself, The <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2023/11/05/trump-revenge-second-term/" target=_blank>Post recently reported</a>.)

Trump also frequently deployed economic and regulatory powers against businesses deemed insufficiently loyal.

For example, his administration launched a <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-autos-emissions/u-s-launches-antitrust-probe-into-california-automaker-agreement-idUSKCN1VR1WG" target="_blank">bogus antitrust investigation</a> into some auto companies when they did not support his rollback of fuel-efficiency standards. He likewise <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/11/the-making-of-the-fox-news-white-house" target="_blank">reportedly instructed his top economic aide to interfere</a> with the merger of AT&amp;T and Time Warner, as <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2019/04/17/white-house-will-not-turn-over-documents-on-att-time-warner-merger.html" target="_blank">punishment</a> for critical coverage from CNN, which was then owned by Time Warner.

Trump also openly mused about <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-trump-media/trump-suggests-challenging-tv-network-licenses-over-fake-news-idUSKBN1CG1WB" target="_blank">revoking the licenses</a> of broadcast news outlets for, among other things, reporting that his secretary of state had called him a “moron.” Again, his underlings did not go along with him.

Elsewhere, he tried to use the government procurement process to damage Amazon. According to a <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Holding-Line-Inside-Pentagon-Secretary/dp/0593084373" target="_blank">memoir by a top aide</a> to then-Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, Trump “called and directed Mattis to ‘screw Amazon’ by locking them out of a chance to bid” on a defense contract. (<a href="https://www.cnn.com/2022/12/08/tech/pentagon-cloud-contract-big-tech/index.html" target="_blank">The contract</a> was awarded to a competitor, challenged in court and ultimately canceled.)

Blaming judges and the “deep state” for thwarting him, Trump now takes comfort in the hundreds of judges he got confirmed. He has also begun amassing a government-in-waiting that will execute his ambitions more effectively next time.

Some of this is, again, unfinished business from his previous administration. In late 2020, Trump issued an executive order designed to strip tens of thousands of career government employees of their <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/trump-lays-the-groundwork-for-a-massive-government-purge-on-his-way-out-the-door/2020/11/30/280519ac-333d-11eb-a997-1f4c53d2a747_story.html" target="_blank">civil service protections</a>. He ran out of time to execute his planned purge — and <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/elections/candidates/joe-biden-2024/" target="_blank" class="contextual_link">President Biden</a> subsequently rescinded the order altogether — but Trump has since <a href="https://www.govexec.com/workforce/2022/03/trump-threatening-return-and-expansion-schedule-f/363145/" target="_blank">openly</a> <a href="https://www.axios.com/2022/07/22/trump-presidency-schedule-f-federal-employees" target="_blank">plotted</a> its revival. Uncooperative civil servants, after all, are some of the “vermin” Trump now speaks of exterminating.

Simultaneously, he and his allies have been vetting <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/01/us/politics/trump-2025-lawyers.html" target=_blank>lists of lawyers</a> and <a href="https://www.axios.com/2023/11/13/trump-loyalists-2024-presidential-election" target=_blank>other loyalists</a> who would replenish these newly vacated government ranks.

Project 2025, a <a href="https://www.project2025.org/about/about-project-2025/" target=_blank>group helmed</a> by <a href="https://www.heritage.org/press/former-ppo-director-john-mcentee-joins-project-2025-personnel-database-launches" target=_blank>Trump aides</a> and organized by a coalition of right-wing institutions, is prescreening the ideologies and loyalties of thousands of possible foot soldiers. The conservative establishment no longer maintains even the pretense of wanting “adults in the room” to restrain Trump and keep him to the narrow, boring business of tax cuts and deregulation. The whole point of this headhunting endeavor is to find personnel who will be less squeamish, perhaps even enthusiastic, about Trump’s authoritarian tendencies. Not guardrails but wheel greasers.

This is the government voters will choose if they choose Trump next November.

Weidenbaum Center Award for Evidence-Based Journalism, 2010

Gerald Loeb Award, Finalist, 2011

Gerald Loeb Award, Finalist, 2012

Gerald Loeb Award, Finalist, 2018

Gerald Loeb Award, Finalist, 2019

Gerald Loeb Award, Finalist, 2020

Gerald Loeb Award, Finalist, 2021

Online Journalism Award, 2021

Princeton University

Catherine Rampell is an opinion columnist at The Washington Post. She frequently covers economics, public policy, immigration and politics, with a special emphasis on data-driven journalism. Before joining The Post, she wrote about economics and theater for the New York Times. 

Catherine Rampell

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