Trump harbors a lot of grudges. Now he has the chance to act on it.

“If there is any upside to electing a slick, petty, whiny, vindictive, meaningless, lying, boorish bully” to the White House, then wrote in November 2016, “he may prompt a reconsideration of the absurd hopes and cultic worship that surround the presidency.” I suggested that “a ridiculous president will encourage Americans to take the presidency less seriously.”

That didn’t turn out quite as I had hoped. Although Trump was predictable ridiculous As president, the comedy turned to tragedy toward the end of his term, when rioters, outraged by his stolen election fantasy, stormed the U.S. Capitol and interrupted Congress’ ratification of Joe Biden’s victory. To this day, Trump maintains: against all evidencethat he actually won re-election in 2020. The voters who returned him to power this week either agree with him or think it doesn’t really matter whether the president is dishonest or misguided enough to stick with that ridiculous story four years later.

In addition to his claim that systematic election fraud robbed him of his deserved victory in 2020, Trump has amassed many 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 grudge. Trump has floated several ideas that libertarians should be concerned about, including: broad, heavy rates And mass deportation from unauthorized US residents. But his authoritarian impulsesillustrated by his repeatedly expressed his wish to punish his political opponents once he is back in power should cause trouble for anyone who values ​​civil liberties and the rule of law.

Trump is still angry at the Democratic operatives who allegedly helped install an illegitimate president. “If we win, and if we win, we are going to prosecute people who cheated in this election,” he said said in September. “And if we can, we will also go back to the previous one.” Considering all wild accusations of fraud that Trump embraced in 2020, who knows what that means?

Trump is angry with Biden, whom he blames not only for stealing the election but also for pushing two federal charges against him. Trump has repeatedly promised to investigate Biden for alleged corruption. “I will appoint a real 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. promised at a meeting in June 2023. “I will appoint a real special prosecutor to investigate Biden’s bribery and crime ring,” he said repeated at another meeting later that month.

After Vice President Kamala Harris replaced Biden as the Democratic presidential candidate, so did Trump angry about the sudden switch, and he began to imagine criminal penalties for her. Harris “must be impeached and prosecuted” for her complicity in the Biden-Trump administration’s border policies said during a meeting in September.

Trump is angry with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. In his 2024 book Save AmericaTrump complained that Zuckerberg “sent (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 at everyone who supported his second impeachment amply justified by his reckless behavior before and during the Capitol riot. He is particularly angry with the House committee that investigated the riot and issued an injunction damning report recommending criminal charges against him. In March 2023, Trump said the members of the committee “must be prosecuted for their lies and, quite frankly, TREASON!” A year later, Trump declared that former Rep. Liz Cheney (R-Wyo.), who served as committee vice chair after joining nine other Republicans in supporting his impeachment, “should go to jail along with the rest of the Unselect Committee to go!”

Trump is angry with special counsel Jack Smith, who has two federal charges against him: one to claim that he illegally tried to overturn the outcome of the 2020 election, the other to upload accused him of improperly retaining classified information after leaving the White House. Trump has said Smith, whom he accuses of “illegally leaking to the press,” “should be prosecuted for misconduct.”

Trump is right to be angry about his 34 felony convictions in New York, which were based on a vague, complicated and legally dubious theory intended to punish him for paying a porn star to keep her from talking about a sexual encounter with him. He thinks Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, like Smith, should be prosecuted for leaks.

Trump is angry about New York Attorney General Letitia James’ civil fraud case against him, which resulted in as much as $364 million disgorgement order issued by Judge Arthur Engoron. At a rally in January, Trump said said James and Engoron “must be arrested and punished accordingly.”

Trump is angry at news organizations for covering this and other controversies in a way that made him look bad. They are “enemies of the people,” he says sayand their sins against him are so egregious that they should pay him compensationgive them up broadcasting licensesor suffer from another, ill-defined one fines for ‘fake’ news reporting, ‘election interference’ and ‘illegal political activities’. Trump has said that too demonstrators who burn the American flag and Critics of the Supreme Court those who try to influence his decisions must go to prison.

Does Trump mean all this? “When you’re president again,” said conservative talk show host Glenn Beck asked him in August 2023: “Do you want to lock people up?” Trump’s response: “The answer is you have no choice, because they’re doing it to us.”

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

Trump responded by complaining that “what happened to me has never happened before in this country,” adding that “it has to stop.” Hannity took that as a rejection of retaliation, and Trump seemed to confirm that interpretation, saying 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 ruined this assurance by adding, “I would have every right to go after them.” Although “I know you want me to say something nice like that,” he said, “I don’t want to look naive.”

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

Will Trump’s angry, vindictive rhetoric accomplish anything? There are several reasons to think this might be possible.

During his first term, Trump was held back by calmer, more experienced officials who opposed hot-headed proposals such as snatch broadcasting licenses of news outlets insulting and shooting at him demonstrators or migrants 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 didn’t even understand it the idea that his subordinates had a higher duty than obedience to his will.

This time, Trump is inclined to rely on advisers who are less likely 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 efforts to overturn the 2020 election results is reportedly a contender for the White House counsel. Former Vice President Mike Pence, who resisted Trump’s push to intervene in the January 2021 electoral vote tally has done just that reprimanded his former boss for asking him to undermine the constitution. In contrast, Pence’s replacement, Senator J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), has say he would have happily carried out Trump’s request.

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

In his second term, Trump does not have to worry about jeopardizing his re-election by openly targeting his political opponents. But if he does worry about the potential political fallout, there are more subtle ways he can punish his enemies, including using his broad discretion impose tariffs and selective illumination favored companies from their burdens.

Perhaps Trump will abandon his grudge and put the past behind him for the sake of bipartisanship. But that requires self-control, charity and informed judgment – ​​qualities he has rarely shown.