By Lisa Lerer and Michael Gold
As Election Day approaches in three weeks, former President Donald Trump is emphasizing a threatening political stance: that he would exploit presidential power to eliminate dissenters.
In a Fox News interview on Sunday, Trump portrayed Democrats as a harmful “enemy from within” that could incite disorder on Election Day, which he suggested might require intervention from the National Guard.
The following day, he concluded his comments to an audience at what was described as a town hall in Pennsylvania with a clear warning regarding his political rivals.
“They are incredibly bad and honestly, they’re evil,” Trump remarked. “They’re evil. What they’ve done is weaponized our elections. They’ve engaged in actions that no one believed could even happen.”
On Tuesday, he once more declined to guarantee a peaceful transition of power when questioned by an interviewer at an economic forum in Chicago.
With early voting in progress across critical battlegrounds, the presidential race is heading toward Election Day in a remarkable and sobering manner. Trump has been flirting with, if not outright endorsing, anti-democratic inclinations with his ongoing refusal to acknowledge the results of the 2020 election, his adoption of conspiracy theories around massive voter fraud, and his claims that the justice system is being weaponized against him. He has expressed admiration for authoritarian figures like Russian President Vladimir Putin and Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban.
However, a presidential nominee—let alone a former president—has never before suggested deploying military force against U.S. citizens solely for opposing his candidacy. As he intensifies his threats of political payback, Trump is presenting voters with a decision for a much different, and significantly less democratic, governance model in America.
“There has never been a moment in American history where a presidential candidate has campaigned on a pledge to retaliate against those they believe do not support them,” stated Ian Bassin, a former associate White House counsel under Barack Obama who now leads the advocacy organization Protect Democracy. “It’s so fundamentally outrageous compared to how this nation has operated that it’s challenging to express how absurd it is.”
As they approach what will be their final appeals to the electorate, Trump and Harris are focusing most of their efforts on debates concerning the issues that remain top of mind for voters—economy, abortion rights, housing costs, and U.S. involvement in conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East. The contest remains closely contested, with many voters holding steadfast views about Trump.
However, the Harris campaign sees new political openings in Trump’s recent attacks on democratic ideals, particularly among moderate Republicans and independents who are critical of the former president’s character and divisive approach.
While Trump spoke on Monday night, Harris stood in a stadium across Pennsylvania where she opted to showcase an extended video montage of Trump promising to retaliate against his opposition. The video included his recent statements about potential military actions against the “enemy within.”
“He’s indicating that he views anyone who doesn’t support him or yield to his demands as an enemy of our nation,” she told several thousand supporters at a rally in Erie, Pennsylvania. “He is suggesting he would employ military force against them.”
Harris’ vigorous criticisms of Trump mark a significant departure from her earlier attempts to downplay him as a remnant of the past. Her team believes that voters still may not be fully aware of Trump’s remarks, nor do they grasp the implications for American democracy.
The campaign intends to incorporate the video of Trump’s comments—promptly transforming it into a television advertisement—into forthcoming rallies. Harris told her staff following the event on Monday night that leveraging the video to build her case against Trump reminded her of presenting evidence in a trial.
Some individuals who have publicly opposed Trump’s return are bracing for him to follow through on his threats. Gen. Mark Milley, who served as chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during Trump’s presidency, expressed concern to journalist Bob Woodward that he might be recalled and court-martialed “for disloyalty” if Trump were to win another term. After criticizing Trump in a retirement speech, Milley told Woodward that he installed bulletproof glass and blast-resistant curtains at his residence.
Olivia Troye, who was an adviser on homeland security to Vice President Mike Pence before becoming a well-known supporter of the Harris campaign, stated in an interview that her fears regarding a second Trump administration include potential prosecutions and threats to her family’s safety.
She is concerned that her spouse could lose his job, and that Trump might pardon those involved in the Jan. 6 insurrection, putting her at risk. She even halted plans to adopt a child due to fears that her family’s environment has turned perilous.
“I have certainly contemplated my options regarding citizenship in other countries,” she noted. “We are preparing for the worst possible outcomes.”
Such threats of retaliation from Trump are not a recent phenomenon: He has been vocal about seeking to punish his political rivals since his 2016 campaign, when he incessantly claimed that his opponent, Hillary Clinton, should face imprisonment and incited crowds to chant “lock her up” at his rallies. Since being defeated in 2020, he has persistently rejected that outcome, continuing to spread falsehoods about electoral fraud.
And he has infused promises of vengeance throughout his current campaign, vowing to take action on behalf of those he views as wronged supporters.
“In 2016, I declared, ‘I am your voice,’” Trump stated to a gathering of conservative activists in March 2023. “Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who feel wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.”
