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With just two weeks remaining until the presidential election, former President Donald Trump has used his most recent appearances on podcast and cable interviews to escalate attacks on fellow Americans whom he calls “the enemy from within.”
In one recent interview, Trump said that if “radical left lunatics” disrupt the election, “it should be very easily handled by — if necessary, by National Guard, or if really necessary, by the military.”
That statement, on Fox News, was not the first time Trump has expressed support for using government force against domestic political rivals. Since 2022, when he began preparing for the presidential campaign, Trump has issued more than 100 threats to investigate, prosecute, imprison or otherwise punish his perceived opponents, NPR has found.
A review of Trump’s rally speeches, press conferences, interviews and social media posts shows that the former president has repeatedly indicated that he would use federal law enforcement as part of a campaign to exact “retribution.”
Vice President Kamala Harris “should be impeached and prosecuted,” Trump said at a rally last month.
“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 last year.
“ELIZABETH LYNNE CHENEY IS GUILTY OF TREASON,” reads one post Trump reposted on his social media site, Truth Social, regarding the former Republican congresswoman. “RETRUTH IF YOU WANT TELEVISED MILITARY TRIBUNALS.”
Journalists who decline to identify the sources of leaked information would also face imprisonment, Trump said.
“If the reporter doesn’t want to tell you, it’s ‘bye-bye,’ the reporter goes to jail,” Trump said in 2022. He appeared to suggest that the reporter could also face sexual assault while in custody.
Trump and his allies have either downplayed these threats, or said that these actions would be justified, in part, because of the four criminal prosecutions brought against Trump since he left office. In one of those cases, a New York jury found Trump guilty of 34 felony counts in connection with hush money he paid to keep an alleged affair with adult film actress Stormy Daniels secret. He is appealing that verdict.
When right-wing radio host Glenn Beck asked Trump if he would lock up his opponents in a second term, Trump responded, “The answer is you have no choice because they’re doing it to us.”
Legal experts said that there are few guardrails preventing Trump from pursuing his plans to prosecute opponents and noted that Trump pressured the Department of Justice to investigate rivals during his first term. In about a dozen cases, the Justice Department followed through and initiated investigations, according to one analysis.
If Trump follows through on his stated plans in a second term, these experts said, his actions could endanger Americans’ civil liberties and cause a chilling effect on criticism of the president. The threats he’s made have already led some of his targets to prepare for the worst by saving money and considering whether to leave the country if Trump wins the election.
“This is how autocrats cement their permanent grip on power,” said Ian Bassin, the executive director of the nonprofit group Protect Democracy, which advocates for protections against authoritarianism.
Many of Trump’s threats relate to his persistent false claims about election fraud and the lie that he won the 2020 election.
“START ARRESTING THE POLL WORKERS AND WATCH HOW FAST THEY TELL YOU WHO TOLD THEM TO CHEAT,” reads a message Trump reposted on social media in 2023.
He has also repeatedly targeted the prosecutors, judges and even courtroom staff connected to the prosecutions against him for alleged election interference, improperly holding classified documents and business fraud.
New York Attorney General Letitia James and Judge Arthur Engoron “should be arrested and punished accordingly,” Trump said at a rally in January. James successfully brought a civil fraud case against Trump, which Engoron presided over. Trump is appealing the judgment against him. He also reposted a message attacking a member of the Georgia grand jury that indicted him.
Among the other targets of Trump’s threats are former President Barack Obama (“RETRUTH IF YOU WANT PUBLIC MILITARY TRIBUNALS”), members of the U.S. Capitol Police who defended the Capitol during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot (“The cops should be charged and the protesters should be freed”), members of the Jan. 6 Select Committee in Congress (“They should be prosecuted for their lies and, quite frankly, TREASON!”), Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (“We are watching him closely, and if he does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison”), people who criticize the Supreme Court (“These people should be put in jail, the way they talk about our judges and our justices”) and protesters who burn the American flag (“You should get a one-year jail sentence if you desecrate the American flag”).