Donald Trump has told his supporters not to see him just as a candidate but as “your retribution”.
In his return to the White House, the former president — twice impeached but twice acquitted and now twice impeached — has vowed that, if re-elected, he will use his power to personally remake parts of the federal government into a degree that historian Mark Updegrove said was unprecedented. Trump has vowed to crack down on perceived enemies, including the Justice Department, which is currently investigating him, and target Republican bogeymen like President Joe Biden.
In June, he vowed to appoint a special prosecutor to “go after” the Bidens and who would “totally wipe out the deep state,” referring to a conspiratorial view of how the government operates.
“This is the final battle … Either they win or we win,” he said in March.
Among Trump’s policy proposals is reviving an executive order from the final months of his presidency, revoked by Biden, that observers say would allow him to essentially turn broad swaths of federal workers into at-will employees that he could fire and replace , instead of firing. only for cause, such as poor performance, and after satisfying certain employment protections.
Shortly after being indicted in New York in April on one count of falsifying business records, which he denies, related to money paid to an adult film actress during his 2016 campaign, Trump urged congressional Republicans via social media to “DEFEND THE DOJ AND THE FBI UNTIL THEY COME TO THEIR SENSE.”
He has also directed anger at longstanding non-partisan institutions, deriding national security and intelligence workers as “corrupt,” and viciously attacking both the special counsel investigating his alleged mishandling of secrets government, such as the prosecutor’s family.
Experts say all of this is stretching, perhaps breaking, the boundaries of how past presidential candidates have criticized the very government they hope to lead.
“Time and time again, we have seen Donald Trump try to remake our government in his image, not based on the ideals and traditions of our country, but based on a personal agenda,” Updegrove said, presidential historian and ABC News contributor.
But conversations with GOP insiders and attendees at recent Trump campaign events confirm that the base’s appetite has not waned for the revenge he promises. Seconds at FiveThirtyEightearly polls show Trump as the clear favorite for his party’s nomination, with his support unswayed by either of his two historic impeachments, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
“It makes me more supportive and more inclined to help him in any way I can,” Larry Miller of Merrimack, New Hampshire, told ABC News earlier this month at an event Trump held in New Hampshire.
Another attendee at that event, Krisia Santiago, said she was a two-time Trump voter who had stuck with him. He spoke bluntly: “They’re scared because he can end this war… If you believe in him, you’ll be a supporter no matter what.”
Former President and 2024 Republican presidential hopeful Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally in Pickens, SC on July 1, 2023.
Logan Cyrus/AFP via Getty Images
Many of Trump’s attacks on the FBI and DOJ are at best stretching the truth, with no evidence to suggest wrongdoing by the current president or special counsel Jack Smith in bringing the recent federal indictment against Trump for their handling of of classified information while he was off duty. Attorney General Merrick Garland and Smith have defended their work.
“This indictment was voted on by a grand jury of citizens of the Southern District of Florida, and I encourage everyone to read it in its entirety to understand the scope and gravity of the crimes charged,” Smith said last month.
Trump loyalists’ support for a comprehensive overhaul of parts of the government has sparked debate over whether he has convinced his voters to turn against bodies like the FBI, or whether he is exacerbating a sentiment they already feel, given the countless legal problems and investigations Trump has faced.
“He has persuaded people that the FBI and the DOJ are at least enemies of Donald Trump,” said veteran Republican pollster Whit Ayres.
“He gets the people who care about him to care about the people who stand in his way. And the law enforcement agencies … he’s declared war on them, and his followers will believe what says,” Ayres continued.
A Fox News poll released last month showed that 40% of registered voters do not trust the FBI. And even the former president’s intra-party critics acknowledge the extent to which his suspicions about law enforcement and his anti-government messaging have infiltrated the broader GOP.
“The deep distrust and dislike that these people have and feel for these institutions is so strong when you talk to these voters. Trump’s message is in line with how voters feel about these institutions. They don’t trust them at all.”, said Gunner Ramer, the political director of the Republican Accountability PAC, which conducts focus groups with GOP voters.
“I think that’s a lot about what Donald Trump has been able to really activate within the base of the Republican Party,” Ramer said. “When you ask these Republican primary voters, ‘How do you feel about Trump’s campaign promise to investigate the Bidens?’ It’s almost unanimous support for that.”
Trump has so far survived a series of legal troubles since launching his political career, including an investigation into his 2016 campaign’s alleged ties to Russia and two subsequent impeachments while in office. (While the Senate acquitted him in both cases, with less than two-thirds of the chamber voting against Trump, a bipartisan group of senators voted to convict in both trials.)
Now, faced with allegations of hush money payments to a porn star and his handling of classified information after leaving office, Trump and his allies have turned their ire on the president’s son, Hunter Biden, who recently reached an agreement on taxes and arms charges. will likely see him avoid jail time.
There is no evidence that Hunter Biden received preferential treatment in his deal, and the White House says it is actually proof of accountability, but Republicans insist otherwise, claiming it as the latest proof that the New Hampshire Trump voter Larry Miller called it a “two-tier justice system” that treats people differently based on politics.
The Hunter Biden investigation was conducted by U.S. Attorney David Weiss, who was appointed by Trump, remained in his position under President Biden, and has said he was never “denied the authority to bring charges in any jurisdiction”.
“For a lot of voters, both grassroots Republicans and independents who see very clearly what’s going on, this has been something they’ve been following for years,” said one Trump adviser, who like some others in this story asked not to be quoted by name to speak frankly.
“Whenever he talks about himself as a victim, he’s bringing focus and color to the image they already recognize,” added a former campaign manager who maintains contact with the president’s current team.
Trump’s relentless attacks have fueled speculation about how far he would go if elected to a second term, including whether he would actually launch investigations into Hunter Biden or others, such as Hillary Clinton.
Former Republican President Donald Trump speaks during the Moms for Liberty Joyful Warriors National Summit at the Philadelphia Marriott Downtown, June 30, 2023, in Philadelphia.
Michael M. Santiago/Getty Images
He has gone back on past promises of jail time for his rivals, including Clinton. “He went through a lot and suffered a lot in a lot of different ways, and I’m not looking to hurt them at all,” he said. he told the New York Times in 2016, weeks after beating her in the presidential election, when she often rallied voters with chants of “lock her up!”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if any Republican takes over, not just Trump, any Republican, would see a new politicization, a slashing, of the Justice Department and less of the courtesy they used to give to former elected officials,” said one. former Trump adviser who is still in contact with his campaign.
“Everything is on the table,” this person said, adding, “I think everybody needs to be put on notice … I don’t think that courtesy that Trump gave Hillary would exist the second time around.”
A Trump campaign spokesman did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Marc Lotter, the director of strategic communications on Trump’s 2020 candidacy and now with the America First Policy Institute, said the 2024 strategy builds on Trump’s 2016 presentation, when he channeled the frustration of voters for trade and Barack Obama’s presidency in a surprise victory.
“He captured this feeling of people who are tired of being lied to, tired of being lied to by politicians and office holders of both political parties,” Lotter said. “And they were sick and tired of another poll-tested Washington establishment politician … I think he’s taking advantage of that, and he’s been able to maintain it.”
Of course, Trump promised sweeping changes to government when he first ran in 2016, epitomized by his “drain the swamp” slogan that left critics, even fellow Republicans like current primary challenger Ron DeSantis , saying it didn’t go ahead.
Samara Klar, a University of Arizona professor who studies political attitudes and behavior, said she believes “optimistically” that “our institutions will remain strong” in the face of Trump’s attacks on the government. However, he admitted that his belief is not universally held among his colleagues, some of whom he said think Trump could pose a more existential risk.
Democracy experts have previously spoken to ABC News about how they worried Trump would erode crucial institutional trust.
“In order for the electoral system to work, for our whole democracy to work, it depends on trust in the electoral system. That is why there is and always has been a peaceful transition of power after elections in the United States Wendy Weiser, who directs the Democracy Program at the Brennan Center for Justice, said last year.
According to GOP operatives and outside experts who spoke to ABC News for this story, Trump’s continued assault on the legitimacy of the federal government will likely be a mainstay of his 2024 campaign and return him to comfortable territory and controversial, asking fans to hug him even. if it means rejecting all others.
“There are very few Americans — and frankly, probably very few people in the entire world right now — who don’t have a pretty crystallized attitude about Donald Trump. I don’t think he can appeal to undecided voters,” he said. said Klar. “At this point, his best strategy is to get the most enthusiasm out of the people he already likes.”
ABC News’ Soo Rin Kim contributed to this report.
