Trump’s revenge machine is more dangerous than ever.
The Biden administration provided security to Trump’s former secretary of state Mike Pompeo, his former top aide Brian Hook and former national security adviser John Bolton. This was due to reliable intelligence that the three were at risk of being killed by Iranian agents. During the first Trump administration, he authorized the drone strike that killed the powerful Iranian general Qassem Soleimani in early 2020, and Iran is out to get him.
The outgoing Biden administration privately told the incoming Trump administration that threats against all three continued. “As recently as last weekend, two separate government representatives, two separate government agencies were called,” Bolton told The New York Times. “Our current assessment is that the risk level is the same,” he said.
But on Tuesday, without explanation, Trump revoked his immunity. He is now at the mercy of Iranian agents in America.
What did they do to deserve this treatment by Trump? They had (in Trump’s mind) committed the sin of being more loyal to America.
Pompeo warned Republicans at the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference not to view “celebrity leaders” with “fragile egos.” Hook was part of the old Republican foreign policy establishment (Trump fired Hook on Monday). Bolton had become The obvious critic Trump
If you thought Trump’s nominee for FBI director, Kash Patel, would protect him from torture, think again. All three are on Patel’s enemies list, which is essentially Trump’s enemies list. (I’ll have more to say about Patel next week when he prepares for a Senate hearing.)
This is how Trump’s revenge machine works. Trump is a mob boss who keeps his hands clean while others do their dirty work.
Who else can do Trump’s dirty work?
Trump has pardoned all those who attacked the US Capitol on his behalf on January 6, 2021. Trump says he wasn’t violent and didn’t have a weapon — but the world saw his violence. They were also caught on video. About 175 used dangerous or deadly weapons, according to prosecutors.
He also threw a Nazi salute, posted that he intended to start a civil war, vowed that “there will be blood”, and called for the lynching of Democratic lawmakers.
They attacked the police with flagpoles, bear spray and metal whips. They strangled the officers with their bare hands. He was convicted of, among other things, “throwing officers down the stairs and conspiring to kill FBI agents investigating the attacks.”
One video shows him attacking an officer named Michael Fanon, who suffered a heart attack and traumatic brain injury that day. He and his family later received death threats after testifying in Congress about the incident. They beat a police officer, Daniel Hodges, and crushed him against the door, his mouth covered in blood as he cried for help.
Now, thanks to Trump, all these thugs are back on the street. Does anyone really think that they will spend the rest of their lives in peace?
Some police officers, including those who testified in the January 6 trials, has said They fear for their safety now that the rebels have been released.
“I just got word from my lawyer… I got a pardon baby! Thank you President Trump!!!” Jacob Chanceley, dubbed the QAnon shaman that day as a reflection of his horned animal headdress and body paint, posted on X. “Now I’m gonna be through some motha fu*kin guns!! ! I love this country!!! God Bless America!!!!”
Jackson Rift, who reported his father Guy’s involvement in the January 6 riots and was a key witness against him, told reporters he feared for his life now that his father was free.
When Oath Keepers leader Stewart Rhodes was sentenced to 18 years in prison for his role in the riots, the judge said: “You’re smart, you’re charismatic and compelling and that’s clearly what makes you dangerous. The moment you are released, whenever that happens, you will be ready to take up arms against your government.” And, presumably, arms against Trump’s enemies.
How many nut jobs does it take to physically attack someone Trump has deemed an enemy? Just ask Paul Pelosi.
Trump himself does not commit violence. The mere fact that he says horrible things about someone who has crossed him, like Nancy Pelosi, would be enough to trigger threats or actual violence from one of his followers.
Ask the judges and prosecutors who have tried to hold him accountable.
It doesn’t matter that the horrible things Trump says about him are outright lies. In 2018, Trump tweeted a video of House Representative Ilhan Omar, falsely claiming she was dancing on the anniversary of 9/11. He received. Death threats.
Trump instructs his crowd with winks and nods. “You had very good people on both sides,” he says, reassuring the violent partisans where their sympathies lie.
“Stand back and stand together,” he calls out to the thugs, and then: “Big protest in DC on January 6th. Be there, it’s gonna be wild!”
His disciple Elon Musk gives a Nazi salute and then denies that he meant it, but the neo-Nazis get the message.
Trump’s revenge machine isn’t just about revenge. It’s also meant to intimidate Trump’s critics – make them think twice before sounding any alarm, and chilling public information or debate about what Trump is up to.
Be warned. Be safe. And to the extent that you can, protect the people chanting Trump.
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Robert Reich, former US Secretary of Labor, is professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and author of Saving Capitalism: For the Many, Not the Few, and the Common Good. His latest book, The System: Who Rigged It, How We Fix It, is out now. He is an American columnist for the Guardian. It’s on the newsletter. robertreich.substack.com
