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As the November election approaches, former President Donald Trump is broadening his list of adversaries, according to a study by Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics (CREW). This study, reported by The Guardian’s David Smith, examined 13,000 messages from Trump’s Truth Social account, revealing a pattern of threats and promises of retribution. Trump has been vocal about his intent to use the federal government against his perceived enemies if he secures a second term.
“The presumptive Republican nominee has threatened to use the federal government to go after Biden during a second Trump administration 25 times since the start of 2023,” CREW’s report disclosed. These threats encompass a range of actions including FBI raids, investigations, indictments, and imprisonment. Furthermore, Trump has suggested that the FBI and the Justice Department should target senators, judges, members of Biden’s family, and various non-governmental organizations.
Robert Maguire, Vice President for Research and Data at CREW, highlighted the severity of Trump’s rhetoric. “He is promising to go after what he perceives to be his political enemies. He is promising to essentially weaponize the government against anyone he sees as not sufficiently loyal or who is openly opposed to him,” Maguire stated. He emphasized that Trump’s narrative of being unfairly targeted by numerous charges has emboldened him to declare, “You’ve done this to me, so I’m going to do it to you.”
Maguire also underscored the importance of maintaining the integrity of law enforcement and the Department of Justice, stressing, “It is critical in making sure that law enforcement and the Department of Justice… cannot be manipulated by the president to go after political enemies. That would go a long way to hamstringing any effort by any president, to be clear, to use those law enforcement powers to go against political enemies.”
Trump’s Truth Social platform, launched in early 2022 following his bans from major platforms like Facebook and Twitter after the January 6th Capitol attack, has a significantly smaller audience. The New York Times reported that despite being reinstated on Facebook and Twitter (now X), Trump has preferred to stay active on Truth Social, which has fewer than 7 million followers compared to the 87 million he once had on X.
NBC News noted that Truth Social recorded around 5 million monthly visits in February, a stark contrast to the billions of visits on TikTok and Facebook. The past decade of Trump’s continuous media presence has led to a phenomenon some call ‘Trump fatigue,’ causing some voters to become desensitized to his statements, which might have been shocking from any other president.
In a notable Truth Social post from August 2023, highlighted in CREW’s report, Trump encapsulated his stance with the declaration, “IF YOU GO AFTER ME, I’M COMING AFTER YOU!” A word cloud based on his speeches last December prominently featured the term “revenge,” illustrating his combative posture. Trump’s threats against Biden often reflect his strategy of turning accusations back on his opponents, creating a narrative where he alleges they are guilty of the same offenses he faces.
