Legal
Trump promised to get revenge. Here are his targets.
From Liz Cheney to Jack Smith to Mark Milley, Trump has a lengthy inventory of people he’s pledged to punish.


Former President Donald Trump walks out on stage during a campaign rally at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on Nov. 1, 2024. | Jamie Kelter Davis for POLITICO

By Josh Gerstein

11/06/2024 06:14 AM EST

Donald Trump ran a campaign based on retribution. Now he is perfectly positioned to carry it out. ... For years, Trump has peppered his speeches and social media posts with vengeful calls for his political opponents, his critics and members of the media to be prosecuted, locked up, deported and even executed. In the waning weeks of the 2024 campaign, he escalated those promises of retaliation to a fever pitch. ... Now that he’s won, he has both a popular mandate — and the power — to begin implementing his platform of punishment.

Many Trump supporters dismissed the threats as campaign rhetoric aimed at whipping up his base. They noted that his exhortations against his enemies only rarely led to action during his first four years in office.

But others — including some of Trump’s closest advisers — have warned ominously that he’s far more likely to follow through in a second term. He won’t be inhibited by the need to run for reelection. He will be emboldened by a Supreme Court ruling that grants presidents broad immunity from criminal accountability after they leave office. And he is expected to be surrounded by aides more willing to dispense with norms to carry out his wishes.

Based on Trump’s own words, here are the people who have the most to fear.

{snip}