Trump and allies plot revenge, Justice Department control in a second term

jeffw@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 291 points –
washingtonpost.com

Highlights: Donald Trump and his allies have begun mapping out specific plans for using the federal government to punish critics and opponents should he win a second term, with the former president naming individuals he wants to investigate or prosecute and his associates drafting plans to potentially invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office to allow him to deploy the military against civil demonstrations.

In private, Trump has told advisers and friends in recent months that he wants the Justice Department to investigate onetime officials and allies who have become critical of his time in office, including his former chief of staff, John Kelly, and former attorney general William P. Barr, as well as his ex-attorney Ty Cobb and former Joint Chiefs of Staff chairman Gen. Mark A. Milley, according to people who have talked to him, who, like others, spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations. Trump has also talked of prosecuting officials at the FBI and Justice Department, a person familiar with the matter said.

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Why is it Trump can wish for unlimited punishment and we can't wish GREATLY for his death?

I, honestly, don't want him to die. I hope that he has perfect health, but finds himself sent to prison for the rest of his life. Then, he can have perfect health as he sees everything he built over his life (business and political) torn to shreds.

Trump just falling dead from a heart attack tomorrow would be too easy an out for him.

How about a middle compromise of a stroke that paralyzes him

I hear all of you. I just think his words do so much damage.

100% agree. If he dies before he gets convicted then he gets away with it.

Why on earth would you want him to die? Dude has so many cases coming at him, let’s let him live a little while so he can enjoy prison life

If you think he'll see a single day inside of a prison cell I've got some ape jpegs to sell you

Ooohhh, are they NFTs???

Yep, just sign here:

X_________________

That'll be 20 million dollars, cash or venmo?

Major Presidential candidates usually base their campaign on who they will help: the poor, the working class, the farmers, the ill, the veterans, etc. Trump is campaigning on who he will hurt.

And his base eats. it. up. Remember, "he hurts the right people" "he's not hurting the people he needs to be hurting" is a real quote from a real supporter at one of his rallies.

E:misquoted

Sure Trump can end the war.

He will just say "I ended the war."

His gullible dipshit supporters will eat it up. Then he will never mention Ukraine again. He will ensure they receive no US aid, no US intelligence, and no American-led coordination within the international community.

The Ukrainians will be annihilated and their children kidnapped to boost up the population in Russia. Putin will continue marching westward and threatening nuclear war with all of Europe and the west.

Trump can't negotiate with Putin because they already agreed.

I would like to believe voters realize how fucked everyone is if he ever gets power again. I'd like to.

Putin will probably go for another country after Ukraine and Trump will do nothing. Meanwhile he will be further dismantling the government until we basically have an unfettered oligarchy to a degree that makes Russia look like a beacon of democracy and honesty.

Then the real persecution of minorities begins.

Voting won't be enough. We also need to be donating time or money to important campaigns and to efforts to get people to the polls.

“I literally can’t tell them apart.”

Is this a joke about “both parties same”?

Paranoid amphetamine addict is making plans.

If he really was hopped up on speed, shouldn't he be a lot thinner?

You'd think. For some people, they have a solid appetite no matter what. I have "forgotten to eat" about three times in my 50+ years.

Just assuming I theoretically did a lot of drugs when I was younger you can also assume I also allegedly kept up my habit of eating. Other more famous examples include John Belushi, Chris Farley, etc.

I wasn't thinking about forgetting to eat. Stimulants like amphetamines boost your metabolism and make you more active. He's clearly too fat and lazy to be on stimulants.

If you eat healthy, stimulants could in theory sort of "substitute" for some exercise to stay skinny. If you overeat and do not exercise, and eat shitty food, as Trump does, the amount of Adderall you'd need to snort to stay thin is more than enough to stop your heart cold.

This is the best summary I could come up with:

Dubbed “Project 2025,” the group is developing a plan, to include draft executive orders, that would deploy the military domestically under the Insurrection Act, according to a person involved in those conversations and internal communications reviewed by The Washington Post.

Trump, the clear polling leader in the GOP race, has made “retribution” a central theme of his campaign, seeking to intertwine his own legal defense with a call for payback against perceived slights and offenses to right-wing Americans.

Rod J. Rosenstein, the Trump-appointed deputy attorney general who oversaw the investigation by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III into Russian interference in the 2016 election, said a politically ordered prosecution would violate the 14th Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection under law and could cause judges to dismiss the charges.

Clark was also charged in Fulton County, Georgia, with violating the state anti-racketeering law and attempting to create a false statement, as part of the district attorney’s case accusing Trump and co-conspirators of interfering in the 2020 election.

Alumni involved in the current planning generally fault a slow start, bureaucratic resistance and litigation for hindering the president’s agenda in his first term, and they are determined to avoid those hurdles, if given a second chance, by concentrating more power in West Wing and selecting appointees who will carry out Trump’s demands.

Dans, a former Office of Personnel Management chief of staff, likened the database to a “conservative LinkedIn,” allowing applicants to present their resumes on public profiles, while also providing a shared workspace for Heritage and partner organizations to vet the candidates and make recommendations.

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