Donald Trump wants to talk about revenge, and neither Sean Hannity nor Dr. Phil can stop him.
I tried both.
Fresh from his historic conviction in New York, President Trump’s public comments, including in his interviews with both men, have focused increasingly on the idea of ”retaliation” against his enemies if he returns to the White House.
This is rhetoric born out of Trump’s obsession that President Joe Biden and the Democratic Party have orchestrated a series of legal challenges to undermine his presidential campaign, a political persecution theory not supported by facts.
On May 31, a New York jury unanimously found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records related to $130,000 he paid to a porn actress during the 2016 election. The Biden administration has no connection to the case.
But for Trump, it’s all politics and he may need to get revenge.
“Yes, revenge takes time, I’ll acknowledge that,” Trump said in an interview with Dr. Phil on Thursday. “And sometimes revenge is justified, Phil, I have to be honest with you. Sometimes it is justified.”
Trump has given at least five interviews since his conviction, and in all five he has spoken about the possibility of retaliation.
“I think it should be a concern,” said Ty Cobb, who served as White House counsel during the Trump administration. “From a 30,000-foot view, it seems like Trump is more upset about being convicted than he was before.”
“President Trump has made it clear that success is the best revenge,” said Brian Hughes, a senior Trump adviser. “At a time when other countries have attempted to weaponize our government and law enforcement institutions for political interference, President Trump will return these institutions to their constitutional purpose: protecting the liberties of the American people and building a safe and prosperous nation once again.”
The Dr. Phil interview came a day after Trump sat down with Hannity and appeared to discuss the idea of revenge himself.
When asked by a Fox News host about people who claim Trump would use his administration to exact revenge, Trump said “they’re wrong” but also mentioned a potential opportunity.
“Once the election is over, I have every right to go after them, given what they’ve done,” Trump said. “It’s easy because it’s Joe Biden. We’ll see all of the criminal activity, we’ll see all of the money that’s flowing to his family, all of the money that’s flowing to him, from China, Russia, Ukraine.”
Hannity tried to steer Trump away from thoughts of revenge, at one point interrupting Trump to say that political retaliation “has to stop.”
Dr. Phil also tried to get Trump to say he wouldn’t seek revenge if he wins in November.
“This is a big issue and I was leaning very strongly towards the position of, ‘Look, this is not going to help this country,'” Dr. Phil told CNN about his interview with Trump.
Trump has made similar comments in other interviews and public remarks.
During an interview with conservative news outlet Newsmax on Tuesday, Trump appeared to suggest he would consider jailing his political opponents if he is re-elected.
“The path they’re leading us down is a horrible, horrible path, and it’s very possible that the same thing will happen to them,” Trump said.
“Does that mean the next president will do the same to them? That’s the real question,” he added.
He also suggested that any jail time or house arrest he faces while he awaits sentencing, scheduled for July 11, would be a “breaking point” for the public.
Openly desiring revenge against political opponents is nothing new for Trump or his supporters.
During his presidency in 2020, Trump took to social media to ask “where are the arrests?”, echoing his supporters’ criticism of his own Attorney General, William Barr, for not arresting Biden, former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and others for alleged misconduct related to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
Trump also used the slogan “Put her in lockup” during his 2016 campaign against Clinton, promising supporters that he would put the former Secretary of State in jail if elected. Trump recently denied ever saying “Put her in lockup” throughout the 2016 election, despite numerous videos of him saying the same thing.
Trump often portrays his calls for retaliation as if he speaks for his entire supporters.
“There are a lot of Republicans who want retaliation,” Trump told NBC News at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday. “They want retaliation. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.”
“To those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your revenge,” he told an audience at the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference. In January, he told Fox News that if elected, “I will have no time for revenge,” just hours after sending out a fundraising email to supporters in which he again told them, “I am your revenge.”
But as the severity of his legal troubles became clear this year, and especially following his guilty plea, the vengeful words began to gain attention.
“Even Hannity recognized that this was dangerous territory and tried to hold Trump back,” said Cobb, who helped coordinate the internal response to Mueller’s Russia investigation while in the White House. “Trump just wasn’t buying it.”
Cobb said he believes the country’s institutions will hold up in the face of Trump’s clearly politically motivated attempt at revenge, but the situation remains perilous nonetheless.
“I think the checks and balances are sufficient to counter those instincts, because Trump is forcing people to act on those instincts,” he added.
President Trump’s political base has welcomed a renewed emphasis on retaliation against political opponents.
“I’m with him,” said Adam LaDogna, a 35-year-old Trump supporter from Cleveland. “Obviously, it’s not against the law, but he’s just saying, ‘Hey, you’re attacking me, so we’re going to attack you.'”
Parker Shonts, a 22-year-old Trump supporter from Fowlerville, Michigan, said it’s an issue of “accountability.”
“‘Revenge’ is a campaign buzzword, but I think ‘accountability’ is a more appropriate term,” he said.
Calls for revenge among Trump supporters intensified again on Thursday when a federal judge ordered former Trump adviser Steve Bannon to report to prison on July 1 to begin a four-month sentence for failing to comply with a Jan. 6 subpoena from the committee. The news infuriated Trump supporters and led to Bannon issuing direct threats.
“Don’t pray for me, pray for my enemies,” Bannon said Thursday. “They’re the ones who need prayer.”
Following Bannon’s imprisonment, President Trump posted on Truth Social that members of the “January 6th Committee” should be indicted.
“Prosecute the J6 Commission for illegally deleting and destroying all of their ‘findings’!” Trump wrote.
