“If there is any advantage to electing a preening, petty, petty, whiny, vindictive, empty, lying, rude bully” to the White House, I think wrote in November 2016, “may provoke a reconsideration of the absurd hopes and sectarian veneration that surround the presidency.” I suggested that “a ridiculous president will encourage Americans to take the presidency less seriously.”

That didn’t work out as I expected. Although Trump was predictable ridiculous As president, comedy turned to tragedy at the end of his term, when rioters outraged by his fantasy of a stolen election stormed the US Capitol, disrupting Congress’ ratification of Joe Biden’s victory. To this day, Trump insists, against all evidencethat he he actually won re-election in 2020. The voters who returned him to office this week either agree with him or think it doesn’t really matter whether the president is dishonest or deluded enough to continue that absurd story four years later.

In addition to his claim that systematic voter fraud deprived him of his rightful victory in 2020, Trump has accumulated numerous other grievances over the past eight years. The question now is whether and how he will use the powers of the presidency to act on his grudges. Trump has presented several ideas that should concern libertarians, including broad and heavy tariffs and mass deportation of unauthorized US residents. But your authoritarian impulsesexemplified by his repeatedly expressed wish punishing his political opponents once he returns to power should concern everyone who values ​​civil liberties and the rule of law.

Trump is still angry at Democratic operatives who allegedly helped install an illegitimate president. “If and when we win, we will prosecute people who cheat in this election,” he said. saying in September. “And if we can, we will also come back last.” Given all the wild fraud accusations that Trump embraced in 2020, who knows what that means?

Trump is angry at Biden, whom he blames not only for stealing an election but also for instigating two federal indictments against him. Trump has repeatedly promised to investigate Biden for alleged corruption. “I will appoint a true special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president (in) the history of the United States of America, Joe Biden, and the entire Biden crime family,” Trump said. fiance at a June 2023 rally. “I will appoint a real special prosecutor to investigate Biden’s criminal and bribery network,” he said. reiterated at another rally that same month.

After Vice President Kamala Harris replaced Biden as the Democratic presidential nominee, Trump was angry about the sudden change, and began to imagine criminal sanctions for her. Harris “should be charged and prosecuted” for her complicity in the Biden, Trump administration’s border policies saying at a rally in September.

Trump is angry with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In his book 2024 Save Americatrump he complained that Zuckerberg “targeted (Facebook) against me” during the 2020 election. He added a warning: “We are watching him closely and if he does anything illegal this time, he will spend the rest of his life in prison.”

Trump is angry with everyone who supported his second impeachment, which was amply justified for his reckless conduct before and during the Capitol riots. He is especially angry at the House select committee that investigated the riot and issued a scathing report recommending criminal charges against him. In March 2023, Trump saying The committee members “should be prosecuted for their lies and, frankly, TREASON!” A year later, Trump declared that former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who served as vice chairwoman of the committee after joining nine other Republicans in supporting his impeachment, “should go to jail along with the rest of the Non-Select Committee!”

Trump is angry with special counsel Jack Smith, who obtained two federal indictments against him: one alleging who illegally attempted to reverse the result of the 2020 election, the other charging accused him of improperly maintaining classified records after leaving the White House. Trump has saying Smith, whom he accuses of “illegally leaking to the press,” “should be prosecuted for MISCONDUCT.”

Trump is more justifiably angry about his 34 convictions for serious crimes in New York, which were based on a vague, complicated and legally dubious concept. theory intended to punish him for paying a porn star to prevent her from discussing a sexual encounter with him. He think Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, like Smith, should be prosecuted for leaks.

Trump is angered by New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil fraud case against him, which resulted in a staggering (and baffling) $364 million. disgorgement order issued by Judge Arthur Engoron. At a rally in January, Trump saying James and Engoron “should be arrested and punished accordingly.”

Trump is angry at news organizations for covering these and other controversies in ways that made him look bad. They are “enemies of the people,” he said. saysand their sins against him are so heinous that they should have to pay damagesgive up your broadcast licensesor suffer other, ill-defined sanctions for “fake” news coverage, “election interference” and “illegal political activity.” Trump has also said that protesters who burn the American flag and Critics of the Supreme Court Those who try to influence his decisions should go to jail.

Is Trump serious about any of this? “If you’re president again,” said conservative talk show host Glenn Beck asked him in August 2023, “will they lock people up?” Trump’s response: “The answer is that they have no choice, because they are doing it to us.”

Last June on Fox News, Sean Hannity he practically begged Trump will give a different answer. “People say you want retaliation,” Hannity said. “People say you want what happened to you to happen to the Democrats. Would you ever do that?”

Trump responded by complaining that “what happened to me has never happened in this country before,” adding that “it has to stop.” Hannity took that as a retaliatory denial, and Trump seemed to confirm that interpretation by saying that his critics were wrong to think that “you will use the justice system to go after your political enemies,” as Hannity put it. Trump then blew the assurance by adding, “I would have every right to go after them.” Although “I know you want me to say something so nice,” he said, “I don’t want to seem naive.”

As Trump sees it, he has been the victim of “hoaxes” and “witch hunts” throughout his relatively short political career, all orchestrated by a Democratic cabal dedicated to his destruction. The conspirators, whom he variously describes as “communists” “Marxists” “fascists” “radical left crazy people” “sick people,” and “vermin“constitute”the enemy from within“, a category that Trump define broad enough to include political opponents such as Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) and former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.).

Will Trump’s angry and vengeful rhetoric amount to anything? There are several reasons to think that this could be the case.

During his first term, Trump was held back by calmer, more experienced officials who rejected exalted proposals such as withdraw broadcast licenses from media outlets that offended him and shot him protesters either immigrants in the legs. But Trump didn’t like being told what he couldn’t do. According to John Kelly, Trump’s second chief of staff, his former boss I didn’t even understand the idea that his subordinates had a duty higher than obedience to his will.

This time, Trump tends to rely on advisers who are less inclined to question his instincts. To give you an idea of ​​what that might mean, Boris Epshteyn, a lawyer who played a key role in Trump’s attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election, is supposedly a contender for White House counsel. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who resisted Trump’s push to intervene in the January 2021 electoral vote count has reprimanded to his former boss for asking him to subvert the Constitution. By contrast, Pence’s replacement, Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio), says He would have loved to follow Trump’s orders.

Trump may also feel emboldened by the July 2024 Supreme Court decision which embraced a broad version of presidential immunity from criminal liability for “official acts.” The Court explicitly said that shield covers communications between the president and the Justice Department, one of the main ways Trump could make life unpleasant for his critics.

In his second term, Trump will not have to worry about jeopardizing his re-election by openly attacking his political opponents. But if you’re still worried about the potential political consequences, there are more subtle ways to punish your enemies, like using your wide discretion impose tariffs and selectively relieve favored the companies of their loads.

Maybe Trump will abandon his grudges and let bygones be bygones for the sake of bipartisan comity. But that would require self-control, charity and considered judgment, qualities he has rarely demonstrated.