"The croaking raven doth bellow for revenge"
So says Hamlet. And the bellowing in Trump's Washington is loud.
In 1938, Joseph Stalin ordered the executions of scores of Russian officials as he consolidated his grip on power. Figures as important as Nikolai Bukharin, a Bolshevik theoretician and former chairman of the Communist International, and former premier Alexei Rykov were killed side by side. Scores of others were murdered or exiled in Stalin’s Great Purge, as the vindictive and paranoid leader sought to vanquish anyone he felt deserved punishment or seemed threatening.
Is history repeating itself, albeit in a bloodless way, in the United States? Is another power-obsessed leader hellbent on punishing anyone who has slighted him? Is this modern headman flouting traditions of political civility in a quest to quash any opposition and assert his authority?
Consider the actions of Donald J. Trump and his minions against such figures as former FBI director James B. Comey and former CIA director John O. Brennan. Both are being put under the gun, metaphorically, for their roles in the 2016 investigation into the Trump campaign’s connections to Russia.
As The New York Times reported, CIA director John Ratcliffe has made a criminal referral of Brennan to the FBI, accusing Brennan of lying to Congress. And law enforcement officials hounded Comey and his wife, following them in unmarked cars in May, as his cellphone was tracked after he posted a photo on social media of seashells he said he had found while walking on a beach during a vacation.
The shells were arranged in the formation “86 47.” That, of course, is common shorthand for dismissing or removing Trump, the 47th president; it’s a slang reference that can be found on T shirts. (“86 46” was used in the same way for former President Biden). When Comey’s Instagram post triggered a furor in Trumpist circles, the former FBI chief deleted it. But Trump put the Secret Service up to “interviewing” Comey about what the easily slighted president claimed was an exhortation to assassination.
And then there’s the pursuit of Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, who was hauled up before the House Oversight Committee in its investigation of the former president’s mental acuity. O’Connor cited doctor-patient privilege and his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in refusing to testify. As Politico reported, the doctor’s lawyers pointed to a Justice Department investigation into the same subject, saying it raised the risk of potential incrimination, even though they insisted his claim of the right did not imply that O’Connor had broken the law.
So great is the fear of persecution in Trump’s Washington that a physician can’t open up about a matter that should be more one of historical rather than partisan interest. Remember that little more than Trump’s viciousness against his predecessor is driving the congressional probe.
Recall, too, that Trump’s Justice Department has sued all 15 federal judges in Maryland, including the chief judge, over an order that blocked the immediate removal of immigrants. While the only thing at risk for the judges is reputational, the extraordinary move undercuts the authority of such courts, especially since the suit will be heard by a Trump-appointed judge in the western part of Virginia.
As The New York Times reported, Georgetown University Law Professor Stephen I. Vladeck said the suit was in keeping with the Trump administration’s efforts to delegitimize the federal bench. “I think we are seeing an unprecedented attempt by the federal government to portray district judges not as a coordinate branch of government,” he said, “but as nothing more than political opposition.”
Trump’s toadies have similarly targeted scores of others who offended their dear leader or had the temerity to object to administration policies. The Environmental Protection Agency, for instance, recently put on administrative leave 139 employees who signed a “declaration of dissent,” arguing that the agency no longer is living up to its mission to protect human health and the environment, as reported by the Associated Press. The agency, in a statement, said it has a “zero-tolerance policy for career bureaucrats unlawfully undermining, sabotaging and undercutting” the Trump administration’s agenda.
Earlier, Trump revoked the security clearances of prominent Democrats. Among them: Biden, former Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Hillary Clinton and former diplomat Norman Eisen. He even denied security protection to former officials in his first term, including Dr. Anthony Fauci and former Gen. Mark A. Milley, former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, putting them physically at risk and in need of hiring their own bodyguards.
Trump also fired FBI officials and senior Justice Department career lawyers, especially those who worked with former special counsel Jack Smith on a pair of criminal investigations into Trump. He revoked the security clearances of 51 former intelligence officials who signed a letter suggesting that the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop could have been Russian disinformation. And he revoked the clearances of top lawyers at major law firms he felt had worked against him, denying them the ability to work.
No one should be surprised by the often-vindictive Trump’s actions, even if they fall well beyond the pale of normal presidencies. While addressing a crowd in 2023 at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference, Trump declared, “I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.”
Of course, especially after he was convicted of 34 felonies, Trump feels deeply wronged. And grace against opponents has never been a calling card for the former New York developer who is still punishing Columbia University for refusing years ago to buy a parcel of overpriced land from him. When he was interviewed by TV psychologist Dr. Phil McGraw in 2024, he said: “Well, revenge does take time. I will say that... And sometimes revenge can be justified, Phil, I have to be honest. You know, sometimes it can.”
Stalin’s purges were far more deadly than Trump’s, of course. The Russian seized power in a bloody revolution, after all, not an election. And yet, much as Stalin was able to muster the power of the state – legions of servile bureaucrats -- against his enemies, so is Trump able through his lackeys to exercise his vengeful will against anyone who has triggered his pique.
Are we dealing here in a difference in degree, but not in kind? It took years for Stalin to build the power he exercised. At 79, Trump almost certainly won’t have as much time, though his lapdog followers will. We have yet to see just how far his and their virulence will go.