Trump’s enemies list: The political rivals and organizations he threatened to go after
For years, Donald Trump has threatened to go after countless political rivals who he claims have wronged him.
In speeches to supporters and rants on his Truth Social platform, he has on multiple occasions vowed to seek “retribution” and called his political opponents the “enemies from within.”
During an interview with Dr Phil in June, he issued an especially ominous threat. “Well, revenge does take time. I will say that. And sometimes revenge can be justified,” he said.
His opponent Kamala Harris, who he defeated on Wednesday to claim the presidency, has previously warned that Trump “has an enemies list of people he intends to prosecute” should he return to power.
Trump himself, who has made history as the first convicted felon elected president of the United States, has also revealed he “learned a lot from Richard Nixon” – a man who was known to have an enemies list.
Now, with Trump heading back to the highest office in America, it’s likely that his political rivals are now wondering if such a list exists – and, more importantly, if their names are on it.
Here are some of the political rivals and organizations that Trump has previously vowed to go after:
Jack Smith
Special Counsel Jack Smith was leading the two federal criminal cases against Trump — one involving his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results and the other involving his alleged mishandling of classified documents. The latter case was dismissed by a judge but now both look unlikely to proceed.
Before he won the 2024 presidential election, Trump said he would “fire” Smith for investigating him and ominously suggested that he should be forced to leave the country.
During a rant about illegal immigration in October, he called for the deportation of “killers, the murderers, and the mentally deranged” before he turned to Smith. “We should throw Jack Smith out with them,” Trump said. “Jack Smith should be considered mentally deranged. He should be thrown out of the country.”
Liz Cheney
Trump has called for Liz Cheney, who endorsed Harris, to be jailed multiple times this year.
In March, he called for the former Wisconsin lawmaker – and other members of Congress who investigated his actions surrounding the January 6 2021 Capitol riots – to be jailed on Truth Social.
By July, he called for “televised military tribunals” of his political opponents, sharing a post in the summer that stated: “Elizabeth Lynne Cheney is guilty of treason.”
Days before the election, Trump sparked outrage after he conjured up a violent fantasy about Cheney being shot at while campaigning with Tucker Carlson.
Mark Milley
Trump’s former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley has been accused of treason by Trump – with the Republican even suggesting he should be “executed.”
After a book reported Milley had “secret” phone calls with China regarding concerns about Trump following the January 6 riots, Trump posted on Truth Social: “This is an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH! A war between China and the United States could have been the result of this treasonous act.”
Nancy Pelosi
The former Democratic House speaker Nancy Pelosi has been a regular target of Trump’s. He has called her “evil”, and “more dangerous” than China or Russia, and called for her to be “prosecuted.”
At a rally the weekend before Election Day, Trump said that Pelosi “could have gone to jail” for ripping up a copy of his 2020 State of the Union address.
Joe Biden
Before the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling that entitles the president to immunity for official acts committed in office, Trump said he would hire a “real special prosecutor” to go after Joe Biden.
“If they said that a president doesn’t get immunity, then Biden, I am sure, will be prosecuted for all of his crimes,” Trump also said in an interview with Time.
And when asked whether he would pardon Biden’s son Hunter, who was convicted of tax and gun charges in separate cases this year, Trump replied: “I wouldn’t take it off the books. … Hunter’s a bad boy, there’s no question about it. But I happen to think it’s very bad for our country...I could’ve gotten Hillary Clinton very easily... I could’ve had her put in jail.”
Trump, however, did not carry out his threat against Clinton during his first term.
Letitia James
New York Attorney General Letitia James successfully brought a $454m civil fraud case against Trump and has felt his ire ever since.
“The only Fraud was committed by A.G. Letitia James in convincing the Judge that Mar-a-Lago was only worth $18,000,000 (in order to make my “numbers” look bad), when it is worth 50 to 100 times that amount,” Trump vented on Truth Social last November. “She campaigned on ‘getting Trump.’ She should be prosecuted!”
The civil case now hangs in the balance after Trump came out as the victor in the presidential race, as he could try to wield the power of the presidency to pressure those who have sued him, Politico reported.
Kamala Harris
At a Pennsylvania rally at the end of September, Trump called for the vice president to be “impeached and prosecuted” over the Biden-Harris administration’s immigration policies.
“She should be disqualified,” Trump said. “She should resign the vice presidency and go home to California. She should be impeached and prosecuted for her actions.”
Trump was impeached twice during his first term, though he was acquitted on all counts by the Senate.
Adam Schiff
The Democrat was the lead impeachment manager who urged senators to remove Trump from office and one of the people Trump referred to as “the enemy from within.”
“These are bad people. We have a lot of bad people. But when you look at ‘Shifty Schiff’ and some of the others, yeah, they are, to me, the enemy from within,” Trump said on Fox News last month.
The TV networks and “Fake News”
It’s not only political figures Trump has vowed to take revenge on. He has also raged at the TV networks and the “Fake News” media.
He seethed at NBC’s parent company, Comcast, calling for it to be investigated for treason because the network covered news of his legal cases.
“I say up front, openly, and proudly, that when I WIN the Presidency of the United States, they and others of the LameStream Media will be thoroughly scrutinized for their knowingly dishonest and corrupt coverage of people, things, and events,” Trump fumed on Truth Social in September 2023.
The billionaire also threatened to go after Google and claimed, without evidence, that the search engine “only” shared “bad stories” about him and “good stories” about Harris. “I will request their prosecution, at the maximum levels, when I win the Election,” he wrote on Truth Social in September.