Five Things Donald Trump Vows to Avenge—and How

Donald Trump has given several indications that he plans to seek revenge against those who he feels have wronged him down the years if he is reelected to the White House.

In recent weeks and months, the former president has issued ominous warnings against President Joe Biden, who he blames for launching alleged partisan federal investigations into him, as well as similar threats against news organizations and government employees.

Trump, the frontrunner in the 2024 GOP presidential primary, has also faced criticism that he is openly planning to abuse his power if reelected to office. Such concerns were raised after Trump told Fox News' Sean Hannity that he only plans on being a dictator on "day one" to implement U.S. oil drilling and immigration policies.

The comments arrived after Trump also vowed to "root out the Communists, Marxists, Fascists, and Radical Left Thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country" which experts suggested echoed rhetoric reminiscent of Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

There have also been several other signs that Trump will be seeking retribution if he is re-elected president. Trump's office has been contacted for comment via email.

The Bidens

In a June Truth Social Post, Trump vowed to appoint a special prosecutor specifically to target President Biden and "the entire Biden crime family" if he's reelected to the White House.

He made the comments soon after he was indicted over allegations he illegally retained classified documents after he left office, then obstructed the federal attempt to retrieve them. Trump has pleaded not guilty to 40 charges in connection to the case, and has frequently accused the investigation of being politically motivated.

"Now that the 'seal' is broken, in addition to closing the border & removing all of the 'criminal' elements that have illegally invaded our country, making America energy independent & even dominant again, & immediately ending the war between Russia & Ukraine, I will appoint a real special 'prosecutor' to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the USA, Joe Biden, the entire Biden crime family, & all others involved with the destruction of our elections, borders, & country itself," Trump wrote.

The former president has also suggested he would use the Department of Justice as a weapon against Biden if he returns to the White House as he feels it is justified.

"Yeah. If they do this and they've already done it, but if they want to follow through on this, yeah, it could certainly happen in reverse," Trump told Univision. "It could certainly happen in reverse. What they've done is they've released the genie out of the box."

Democrats have accused House Republicans of helping Trump seek revenge to getting impeached twice while in office by trying to impeach Biden over disputed corruption claims involving his son Hunter Biden's business dealings.

In February 2020, shortly after Trump was impeached for the first time over allegations he threatened to withdraw military aid to Ukraine unless the country's president, Volodymyr Zelensky, promised to investigate Hunter Biden's business dealings, Trump was asked if he will one day seek payback.

"Well, you'll see. I mean, we'll see what happens," Trump said.

"Marxist" Prosecutors

In a similar vein, Trump has also promised he would instruct the Department of |Justice to investigate "racist" and "Marxist" prosecutors while appearing to reference Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis and New York Attorney General Letitia James.

"I will direct a completely overhauled DOJ to investigate every Marxist prosecutor in America for the illegal, racist-in-reverse enforcement of the law," Trump told a campaign rally in Illinois in early December.

Trump has frequently accused Willis and James, who are Black, are carrying out "racist" investigations into him as part of their respective Georgia election interference cases and the $250 million fraud lawsuit in New York.

Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker said he was concerned about Trump's rhetoric for revenge while also saying it is similar to comments made by dictators.

"I don't know where it's going, with Donald Trump, what I can tell you is, the things that he talks about, are frightening to those of us who know the history of Europe in the 1930s and 40s," Pritzker told MSNBC. "And I'm deeply concerned about his predilection for revenge."

Uncooperative Civil Servants

Trump has also long vowed to remove federal employees from office and strip them of their employment protections. In 2020, Trump signed an executive order to create a Schedule F class of federal employees at certain agencies, meaning possibly thousands of civil servants would not have protections against being easily fired, including those who advise the White House.

Trump was not able to implement the executive order before he left office, with Biden rescinding it in January 2021 after he became president.

In subsequent years, Trump has indicated he would attempt to bring back Schedule F if he re-enters the White House.

"We will pass critical reforms making every executive branch employee fireable by the president of the United States," Trump told a rally in South Carolina in March 2022, months before he confirmed his latest presidential bid. "The deep state must and will be brought to heel."

MSNBC

In another recent Truth Social post from November, Trump urged the government to make MSNBC "pay" for what he called their "illegal political activity" while making a vague threat that such actions may happen in the future.

Trump also attacked Brian Roberts, the CEO and chairman of Comcast which owns the channel, as a "slimeball" who has has been able to "get away with these constant attacks for years" with the network's coverage of the former president.

"It is the world's biggest political contribution to the Radical Left Democrats who, by the way, are destroying our Country," Trump wrote. "Our so-called 'government' should come down hard on them and make them pay for their illegal political activity. Much more to come, watch!" he added, without specifying what political activity he considered illegal.

Trump and MSNBC/Comcast did not respond when previously contacted for comment.

Trump did not indicate how the government should target MSNBC, or elaborate on the "more to come" line.

In 2019, Trump was accused of instructing Gary Cohn, his then chief economic adviser, to try and interfere with the merger of AT&T and Time Warner in order to punish CNN for the network's negative coverage of the former president. Trump denied the accusations at the time.

"I Am Your Retribution"

The former president also seemed to explicitly make his intentions for him and the MAGA movement clear at the Conservative Political Action Conference in March.

"In 2016, I declared: I am your voice," Trump told the crowd at the event in Maryland. "Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed: I am your retribution."

Elsewhere in a Univision interview from November, Trump said: "If I happen to be president and I see somebody who's doing well and beating me very badly, I say: 'Go down and indict them."

"They'd be out of business. They'd be out of the election."