While some critics are getting prepared for Donald Trump’s go back to the White House, others are in a position for battle.
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As Donald Trump is about to fill America’s police apparatus with loyalists who may lay out a vengeful timeline in his name, some of his most prominent critics are bracing for the imaginable consequences they could face.
Recently, Georgia Representative Barry Loudermilk used his perch atop a House Administration Subcommittee to issue a report that called for the incoming Trump justice department to investigate and prosecute former House January 6 committee vice-chair Liz Cheney for what he describes as “witness tampering” — in actuality the then-Wyoming congresswoman’s efforts to help ex-Mark Meadows aide Cassidy Hutchinson find new counsel after she was pressured to withhold information from the panel.
Trump has also called for the entirety of the now-defunct House panel to be jailed, and he has also routinely called for critics and political opponents to face criminal sanctions as well.
He filed a lawsuit against the Des Moines Register and the Iowa-based pollster whose pre-election survey found, wrongly, that he was on the verge of losing the Hawkeye State to Vice President Kamala Harris by a double-digit margin.
His allies, including his FBI Director-designate Kash Patel, have also made a habit of suing media organizations and critics — often on frivolous grounds — and come January 20, Patel and his MAGA friends could have a free hand to deploy the full weight of the U.S. government against people they deem insufficiently sycophantic towards the new president.
The list goes on, adding an organization that Patel named in an appendix to his memoirs, Government Gangsters, as members of an “executive deep state. ”
The former National Security Council staffer has repeatedly claimed in media appearances that such persons, including the two most recent Democratic presidents, the three most recent Democratic presidential nominees and other prominent law enforcement and intelligence officials who’ve incurred ire from Republicans over the years, deserve be jailed.
Now, some of Trump’s top critics are preparing for his return to power. Others are in a position to fight.
Mark Zaid, a national security lawyer in Washington, D. C. , who has treated whistleblowers and critics, went so far as to say that some of his clients find a reason to put themselves beyond the reach of U. S. law enforcement when Trump returns. to Washington. power in just over a month.
He told Politico that he had encouraged “a small number of people” to “take an outdoor vacation in the country around the time of the inauguration, just to see what happens. “
The diversity of what could happen if Trump directs the force of government against his supposed enemies is certainly wide.
In addition to inventing reasons to investigate, arrest, and prosecute its political enemies, a Trump administration bent on revenge can simply subject its critics to intrusive IRS audits, make it difficult for its critics to travel abroad or access money services, and can simply harass and intimidate. them anyway. mandatory procedure without arrest.
Several prominent pro-democracy commentators and activists say efforts are already being made to prepare for the possibility that the new administration will unleash untold acts of harassment against others who have antagonized the president during his first term. But some of Trump’s biggest critics are undeterred.
Rick Wilson, the former Republican publicist who co-founded and still helps run the Lincoln Project Super PAC, told The Independent that his organization plans to return to messaging that helped diminish Trump’s popularity as he ran for re-election in 2020.
The organization focused on Trump’s mistakes and incompetence rather than the more amorphous “pro-democracy” messages that dominated the 2024 cycle.
“Democracy is incredibly important, but unfortunately it has not convinced the majority of Americans either. . . It is important now to take advantage of this era that we are about to enter to explain that it will not achieve the expected effects through other people than concept that it would be . deliver – he’s already saying, ‘I can’t lower prices, I can’t do this, I can’t do that,’ and we feel like there’s an area of opportunity in front of us where we know our type of messaging is going to be effective and we’re “We will be able to intervene and make a compelling case that we want to continue with a concept of opposition to this guy,” said Wilson, who under pressure that his organization would not be part of this project. “hooded mafia” that ruled anti-Trump circles during his first years in office.
Wilson, who has faced lawsuits from Trump allies in recent months, said he knows it’s conceivable that this time Trump’s administration will go beyond civil lawsuits.
But Wilson stressed that he would not back down from any fights.
“I suspect I’ll spend a good portion of my time dealing with this kind of garbage, dealing with congressional committees, whatever it is. But I think it’s up to other people like me not to settle beforehand and not work out of fear,” he said. “It’s not a productive emotion after a certain point, and I refuse to live that way right now – we’re going to keep doing what we’re doing, and if you stop me… you have to take me out feet first. I’m not going to bow down to those other people.
Wilson added that over his years in politics he has been “very careful not to commit crimes,” including avoiding “the stupid s***” he described as campaign finance violations, with the aid of “very good legal counsel” to tell him when to shut up and not do certain things.
Another prominent Trump critic, conservative lawyer George Conway, said he wasn’t afraid of being put in the crosshairs of the new leadership because he had “nothing to investigate. “
Conway, a former corporate litigator who was once married to Trump aide and Republican political strategist Kellyanne Conway, told The Independent that his life is “pretty simple. “
“I don’t pay porn stars. I don’t have any wonderful investments. I don’t have any cash businesses. All my money I invest in the mutual budget because I spent 30 years in a law firm where we were only allowed to invest in the mutual budget,” he said.
He added that the only way to be attacked through Trump or his allies is to file a defamation lawsuit, which he said “would be great” because it would allow him to download information.
“I am also afraid of following them and making their lives miserable. As they pass behind me, they just pass by to give me a platform,” he said.
Some Trump critics who’ve been in the crosshairs of the soon-to-be-president’s inner circle are more concerned because of their one-time proximity to Trump.
Olivia Troye, a former homeland security adviser to then-Vice President Mike Pence, told The Independent she worries most about the people around Trump, such as Patel, incoming deputy White House chief of staff Steven Miller, Office of Management and Budget director-designate Russell Vought and others like them because they see her as more of a turncoat due to her former proximity to the center of power.
Troye said he worries about what someone like Patel, who funded lawsuits and legal threats against him, might do in the workplace because he will have Trump’s backing and the backing of an attorney general named Pam Bondi, another party loyalist. new president.
She also said she’s thinking about making security arrangements for herself and her family because Trump and his allies have a habit of exposing their adversaries to death threats and harassment by publicizing their names.
“This is a crazy time, and when they do things, we’ve seen that sometimes people get radicalized and they act on it. So I just need to do what’s best for me and my family,” Troye said.
Wilson said he believed Trump would “absolutely attempt to abuse force in a horrific and profound way” by attacking critics, if not him, then at least other people like him.
But he warned those in the line of fire to “comply in advance” and warned that those lower down the control board will not benefit from the same protections as those Trump benefited from.
“Donald Trump is immune thanks to the Supreme Court, but not every member of his leadership is immune from liability if they abuse their power,” he said. “We still don’t live in a world where there aren’t consequences for guys like Kash Patel or other people in the leadership. “
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Donald Trump is ready to return to the White House.
Donald Trump is ready to return to the White House. That leaves his critics bracing for retribution
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