While some critics brace for Donald Trump’s return to the White House, others are ready for a fight.
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As Donald Trump is on the verge of staffing America’s law enforcement apparatus with loyalists who would likely implement a program of revenge in his name, some of his most prominent critics are preparing for the imaginable consequences they would likely face.
Recently, Georgia Rep. Barry Loudermilk used his position atop a House Administration subcommittee to release a report calling on Trump’s new Justice Department to investigate and prosecute the former vice president. of the January 6 Committee, Liz Cheney, for what he describes as “witness tampering,” in In fact, the then-Wyoming congresswoman’s efforts to help former Mark Meadows aide Array Cassidy Hutchinson to find new advice after she insisted on withholding information from the panel.
Trump has also called for all members of the now-defunct House panel to be jailed, and has also called for political critics and warring parties to face fraudulent sanctions.
He filed suit against the Des Moines Register and the Iowa-based election institute, whose pre-election polling revealed (incorrectly) that he was on the verge of losing the Hawkeye State to Vice President Kamala Harris by a double-digit margin.
His allies, including his designated FBI director, Kash Patel, have also taken to suing media organizations and their critics – for frivolous reasons – and on January 20, Patel and his MAGA friends would likely have their hands loose. to throw the The full weight of your efforts. The US government opposes others it considers insufficiently fawning over the new president.
The list goes on, adding an organization that Patel named in an appendix to his memoirs, Government Gangsters, as members of an “executive deep state. ”
The former National Security Council staffer has repeatedly claimed in media appearances that such persons, including the two most recent Democratic presidents, the three most recent Democratic presidential nominees and other prominent law enforcement and intelligence officials who’ve incurred ire from Republicans over the years, deserve be jailed.
Now, some of Trump’s top critics are preparing for his return to power. Others are in a position to fight.
Mark Zaid, a Washington, D.C., national security lawyer who has advised whistleblowers and critics, has gone so far as to say that certain clients of his should find a reason to be beyond the reach of American law enforcement around the time of Trump’s return to power in just over a month.
He told Politico that he had encouraged “a small number of people” to “take an outdoor vacation in the country around the time of the inauguration, just to see what happens. “
The range of what could happen should Trump turn the power of government against his perceived enemies is quite broad indeed.
In addition to inventing reasons to investigate, arrest, and prosecute political enemies, a Trump administration bent on revenge may simply subject its critics to intrusive IRS audits, make it difficult for its critics to travel abroad or access money services, and may simply harass them. and intimidate them. in any way. mandatory procedure without arrest.
Several prominent commentators and pro-democracy activists say efforts are already underway to prepare for the option of the new administration unleashing countless acts of harassment against others who let the president down during his first term. But some of Trump’s greatest exponents are not intimidated.
Rick Wilson, the former Republican publicist who co-founded and continues to help manage the Lincoln Project Super PAC, told The Independent that his organization plans to reuse messaging that helped reduce Trump’s popularity as he ran for re-election in 2020.
The group focused on Trump’s failures and incompetence rather than the more amorphous “pro-democracy” messaging that dominated the 2024 cycle.
“Democracy is incredibly important, but unfortunately it has also not convinced the majority of Americans… it is important now to use this time we are about to spend to explain that it may not get the expected effects from other people who concept that would do it. deliver – you’re already saying, “I can’t lower prices, I can’t do this, I can’t do that,” and we feel like there’s an area of opportunity in front of us where we know “that our type of messaging is “It’s going to be effective and We’re going to be able to intervene and make a compelling case that you want to continue with an opposition concept like this,” said Wilson, who, under pressure that his organization would not be part of this project. He described it as the “hat crowd. ” “pink” that ruled anti-Trump circles during its early years in office.
Wilson, who has had to fight lawsuits from Trump allies in recent months, said he knew it was imaginable that Trump’s administration this time would go beyond civilian attacks: this one.
But Wilson said he wouldn’t back down from any fight.
“I suspect I’ll spend a non-zero portion of my time dealing with this kind of crap, dealing with congressional committees, whatever they are. But I think it’s up to other people like me not to comply with ‘Move On and Don’t Work’ out of fear,” he said. “It’s not a productive emotion after a certain point, and I refuse to live like that now; We are going to continue doing what we are doing, and if they stop me. . . They have to take my feet off first. I’m not going to bow down to those other people.
Wilson added that over his years in politics he has been “very careful not to commit crimes,” including avoiding “the stupid s***” he described as campaign finance violations, with the aid of “very good legal counsel” to tell him when to shut up and not do certain things.
Another prominent Trump critic, conservative lawyer George Conway, said he wasn’t afraid of being put in the crosshairs of the new leadership because he had “nothing to investigate. “
Conway, a former corporate litigator who was in the past married to Trump aide and GOP political strategist Kellyanne Conway, told The Independent that his life is “pretty simple. “
“I don’t pay porn stars. I don’t have any wonderful investments. I don’t have cash business. “I invest all my money in the mutual budget because I spent 30 years in a law firm where we were only allowed to invest in the mutual budget,” he said.
He added that the only way for Trump or his allies to attack him is through a defamation lawsuit, which he said “would be great” because it would allow him to obtain information.
“I’m also not afraid of going right out after them and making their lives miserable— by going after me they’re just going to give me a platform,” he said.
Some Trump critics who have long been targeted by the president’s inner circle are more involved because of their proximity to Trump.
Olivia Troye, former national security adviser to then-Vice President Mike Pence, told The Independent that she was very concerned about other people close to Trump, such as Patel, the new deputy cabinet leader. White House Steven Miller, designated director of the Office of Management and Budget. Russell Vought and others like them because they see her more as a defector due to her former proximity to the center of power.
Troye said he worries about what someone like Patel, who funded lawsuits and legal threats against him, might do at his workplace because he will have Trump’s backing and the backing of Attorney General Pam Bondi, another party loyalist. new president.
She said she plans to take protective measures for herself and her family, as Trump and his allies have a history of exposing warring parties to death threats and harassment by publishing their names.
“It’s a crazy time, and when they do things, we’ve noticed that other people become radicalized and act accordingly. So I have to do what’s most productive for me and my family,” Troye said.
Wilson said he believed Trump would “absolutely attempt to abuse force in a horrific and profound way” by lashing out at his critics, if not him, then at least other people like him.
But he cautioned those who might end up in the crosshairs about “complying in advance,” and warned that those lower down on the administration’s organizational chart won’t have the same protections Trump has been given.
“Donald Trump is immune because of the Supreme Court, but not every person in his administration is immune from liability if they abuse their power,” he said. “We do not yet live in a world where there are no consequences for the guys like Kash Patel or or or other people inside the administration.”
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Donald Trump is ready to return to the White House. This leaves his critics bracing for retaliation.
Donald Trump is ready to return to the White House. That leaves his critics bracing for retribution
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