Trump’s Re-Election Strategy Includes Revenge on Ex-Officials Who Switched Sides

Trump leads in the race according to opinion polls.
WP mentions past remarks by the former chief of staff.
Considering ‘insurrection law’ for inauguration day protests.

As the U.S. presidential election is a year away, former President Donald Trump is reportedly exploring specific plans to use federal law enforcement agencies, such as the Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), to target his critics if he wins re-election. There are concerns that U.S. politics could plunge into a large-scale political vendetta if Trump is re-elected.

The Washington Post (WP) reported on the 5th (local time) that Trump had indicated in private meetings with his staff and acquaintances over the past few months that he would like the Justice Department to investigate government bureaucrats who had initially served under his administration but later switched their positions to express criticism. In other words, he won’t let the ‘traitors’ get away with it.

The individuals Trump mentioned include former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, former Attorney General William Barr, former White House lawyer Ty Cobb, and former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley. Trump is also said to have expressed a desire to investigate some bureaucrats within the FBI and Department of Justice.

All the individuals targeted have publicly criticized Trump. Former Chief of Staff Kelly criticized Trump for calling fallen soldiers ‘losers,’ and former Attorney General Barr refuted Trump’s refusal to accept the 2020 election results. Both former lawyer Cobb and former Chairman Milley had also taken a negative stance towards Trump.

If Trump is successful in his re-election bid next year, his aides are looking into the matter so that he can immediately issue instructions to the Department of Justice, according to the WP. They are creating a draft of a specific plan, but it’s currently unclear what charges or evidence will be used to justify investigations into specific individuals.

Trump is rallying his forces by making ‘retribution’ a key theme of his election campaign. He has emphasized not only in private but also in public speeches that if he is re-elected, he will appoint a special prosecutor to conduct investigations into President Biden and his family.

In response to these moves, Saikrishna Prakash, a professor at the University of Virginia, expressed concern, saying, “If people attack the opposition at will after taking power, it’s no different from a ‘banana republic’ (a poor country that survives on foreign aid). It’s far from something we should aspire to.”

In addition, Trump’s camp is reportedly considering deploying the military in case of potential riots on Inauguration Day.

Most of Trump’s plans for his second term are unofficially entrusted to conservative think tanks, especially a group called ‘Project 2025’, which is reviewing a draft presidential executive order to deploy the military under the Insurrection Act. The Insurrection Act gives the president the authority to deploy the military for domestic law enforcement.

Trump did not heed the conservative camp’s demand to invoke the Insurrection Act during the George Floyd murder case in 2020, his last year in office, but later expressed regret, saying, “I won’t hesitate in the future.”

However, in response to the WP’s request for confirmation, Trump campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung dodged a direct answer, saying, “Former President Trump has always supported law and order and the protection of the Constitution.”

Meanwhile, various foreign media polls conducted a year ahead of next year’s election show that Trump would win in competitive states, beating President Biden.

In a joint poll conducted by The New York Times (NYT) and Siena College, Trump (48%) led Biden (44%) by 4 percentage points when all six competitive states were combined. Trump led Biden in Nevada (52% to 41%), Georgia (49% to 43%), Arizona (49% to 44%), Michigan (48% to 43%), and Pennsylvania (48% to 44%). Biden only led in Wisconsin (47% to 45%).

If this trend continues until the election, Trump could secure far more than the 270 electoral votes needed to win, possibly as many as 300, according to NYT’s analysis.

By. Jung Hyunjin