Vengeance was a central theme of President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign, and now that he’s headed back to the White House, attention has turned to those who might face his wrath.
From presidents to cops, generals to journalists, Trump’s enemies list is far-reaching. Each one has been specifically singled out by the Republican standard-bearer in speeches or on social media, with demands they be prosecuted and even executed.
Trump supporters have dismissed the president-elect’s rhetoric, saying he was just giving the GOP base what they wanted. He didn’t exact retribution in his first term, and he won’t in his second, they say.
“I would love to be a special counsel or a viceroy and exact painful retribution on all these motherf—ers, because I think retribution is a key part of justice,” far-right attorney Mark Davis, one of Trump’s staunchest defenders, told Politico.
But he continued, “It’s just not possible,” given the roadblocks present in the legal system.
Still, conditions are much different now than in 2016. Trump won by a substantial margin this time and can rightfully claim a mandate, which he already has. The Supreme Court has granted him immunity from prosecution while the public, aware of the threats, has basically shrugged its shoulders. His Cabinet will likely be made up mostly of acolytes and appeasers who are disinterested in reining in Trump’s worst impulses.
Some of those who worked most closely with Trump have warned he will be much more dangerous than in the first. One of them, former Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, called him “fascist to the core.” He’s among a long list of former Cabinet members and aides who find themselves on his enemies list.
Trump singled out Milley for the harshest punishment of anyone who has crossed him.
“This is an act so egregious, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH!” Trump wrote on Truth Social regarding Milley’s calls with his counterpart in the Chinese government just before the 2020 election, assuring them the U.S. would not attack China if Trump lost.
Milley is joined by:
President Joe Biden and his family: In a 2023 speech, Trump said: “I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family.”
Vice-President Kamala Harris: He told a campaign rally in Pennsylvania that his opponent “should be impeached and prosecuted” for her role in allowing an “invasion” by undocumented immigrants.
President Barack Obama: Trump reposted a message on Truth Social two months ago calling for “public military tribunals” for Obama.
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton: The target of his popular refrain from the 2016 campaign, “Lock her up!” In an interview with Newsmax earlier this year, Trump mused, “Wouldn’t it be terrible to throw the president’s wife and the former secretary of state … into jail? It’s a terrible, terrible path that they’re leading us to, and it’s very possible that it’s going to have to happen to them.”
Former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi: Trump called her “evil” on the last day of the 2024 campaign and has repeatedly called for her to be prosecuted for failing to protect the U.S. Capitol from his supporters who rioted on Jan. 6, 2021.
Prosecutors: In January, he told supporters at a campaign rally in Iowa that New York Attorney General Letitia James “should be arrested and punished accordingly” for bringing a successful lawsuit against his real estate empire alleging fraud.
He also called for the prosecution of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who brought the case that led to Trump’s conviction on 34 felony charges related to a scheme to secretly pay $130,000 in hush money to porn star Stormy Daniels, with whom he allegedly had an affair.
Special counsel Jack Smith is also in Trump’s crosshairs. He reposted conservative talk show host Mark Levin, saying the federal prosecutor “must go to prison.” Smith “should be prosecuted for election interference and prosecutorial misconduct,” he said in September.
Capitol Police Lt. Michael Byrd: The officer who shot and killed rioter Ashli Babbitt as she attempted to breach the entrance to the Speaker’s Lobby on Jan. 6, 2021, is a “thug and coward,” according to Trump. “Ashli Babbitt,” he said, “was murdered!”
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg: His $420 million donation to improve election infrastructure in 2020 was seen by Trump as an attempt to undercut his presidential campaign. The former and future president warned, “We are watching him closely, and if he does anything illegal this time, he will spend the rest of his life in prison.”
Former personal attorney Michael Cohen: “Cohen should be prosecuted for lying and all of the tumult and cost he put the D.A.’s Office through,” Trump wrote on Truth Social last year about his former lawyer’s role as a witness in the hush money trial.
There’s so much more: Journalists, protesters, and critics of the Supreme Court’s most conservative justices have all been explicitly targeted by Trump.
