Donald Trump ran on a promise to use the powers of his office for revenge against those he believed wronged him. Now, he appears to be fulfilling that promise while threatening to expand his powers well beyond the traditional scope of the presidency. The actions his administration has taken since returning to office have alarmed critics, who fear he is wielding governmental authority to intimidate political opponents and consolidate power in an unprecedented way.
On Friday, the FBI searched the home of John Bolton, Trump’s first-term national security adviser-turned-critic. This action came just a week after Bolton called the administration the “retribution presidency” in an interview. Trump’s team has also opened investigations into several Democrats, including New York Attorney General Letitia James and Senator Adam Schiff. Additionally, the Republican administration has charged a New Jersey congresswoman and arrested a mayor, both Democrats, and is investigating former New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, now a candidate for mayor of New York City. Trump has also directed prosecutors to investigate former administration officials Miles Taylor and Chris Krebs, both of whom have publicly criticized him. These actions appear to be the payback Trump vowed to pursue after facing multiple criminal charges himself during his time out of office.
White House spokeswoman Abigail Jackson defended the actions, stating that President Trump is “restoring law and order” and that former President Joe Biden had “weaponized his administration to target political opponents.”
Beyond the legal and political realm, Trump has deployed the military into American cities to fight crime and help with immigration arrests. He has sent thousands of National Guard troops and federal law enforcement officers to patrol the streets of the nation’s capital and activated the Guard and Marines in Los Angeles. This combination of potential prosecutions and armed troops in the streets has raised concerns among political scientists like Brendan Nyhan of Dartmouth College, who believes the picture is clear for anyone with a grasp of history.
Trump’s second term began with him pardoning over 1,500 people convicted in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. His Justice Department has since fired federal prosecutors who worked on those cases. Attorney General Pam Bondi has also been directed to investigate the origins of the 2016 campaign’s ties with Russia. The government’s watchdog agency has opened its own investigation into Jack Smith, the special prosecutor who investigated Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and his handling of classified documents.
Stephen Saltzburg, a former Justice Department official, noted the “amazing” number of people the Trump administration has gone after, all of whom have either investigated or criticized Trump. The president has also targeted institutions that have defied him. He has barred law firms that litigated against him from doing business with the federal government and has threatened to cut funding for universities that do not follow his administration’s directives. The administration has also filed a judicial misconduct complaint against a judge who ruled against his officials.
These actions are part of an intensifying pattern. Trump’s defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, has fired several military leaders perceived as critics, and the administration has revoked the security clearances of dozens of current and former national security officials. As Justin Levitt, a former Justice Department official, put it,
“It’s what he promised. It’s what bullies do when no one tells them ‘No.’”
