Federal and State Civil Servants Are Preparing for Persecution From Trump, Possibly Loss of Life By the Hands of MAGAlandia Citizens

Trump adversaries prepare for retribution - The Washington Post

Officials and others across the country who incited the president’s ire say they are preparing for him to make good on pledges to settle scores now that he’s back in office.

January 28, 2025 at 6:00 a.m. EST

By Yvonne Wingett Sanchez, Sarah Ellison, Patrick Marley and Holly Bailey

  • Fear of Retaliation: Officials and others who have incited Trump’s ire are preparing for possible retribution, including criminal investigations, tax audits, and physical threats.
  • Personal Precautions: Some individuals are meeting with private attorneys, visiting shooting ranges, and making plans for their families in case they are detained.
  • Targeted Groups: Those who fear they could be targeted include election officials, prosecutors, democracy advocates, and former Trump administration officials.
  • Trump’s Promises: Trump has vowed to settle scores and has made statements about firing government officials and appointing special prosecutors to go after his perceived enemies.
  • Legal and Security Measures: Some individuals are lining up attorneys, packing “go bags,” and carrying weapons for self-defense.
  • Support Networks: People are supporting each other through group text messages, sharing contact information for attorneys, and discussing steps to take if targeted.

Contrary to what Trump alleges in this “presidential action”, Ending The Weaponization Of The Federal Government, dated January 20, 2025, Trump is weaponizing the Federal Government to persecute1 his “political enemies”, plus those that he perceived that did him wrong. His presidential action is rife with lies and allegations. In his twisted, upside-down world of logic, what’s right is wrong.

Below is the oath of office that every federal employee takes for a job position. Please note that it says that one “will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic”. It does not state that one will support and defend the President.

5 USC PART III, Subpart B, CHAPTER 33, SUBCHAPTER II: OATH OF OFFICE

5 USC PART III, Subpart B, CHAPTER 33, SUBCHAPTER II—OATH OF OFFICE §3331. Oath of office An individual, except the President, elected or appointed to an office of honor or profit in the civil service or uniformed services, shall take the following oath:

“I, <your name>, do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter. So help me God.” This section does not affect other oaths required by law.

(Pub. L. 89–554, Sept. 6, 1966, 80 Stat. 424.)

In the Washington Post article, many that face the wrath of Trump’s are preparing their families and taking steps to avoid persecution.

A state official in a battleground state asked relative, on New Year’s Eve, “Would you be willing to take care of my child if authorities or allies of President Trump detained me?”

“You can’t be serious,” the family member responded.

The official wished she wasn’t. But, like others around the country who have crossed Trump, she was preparing for dire scenarios.

  • meeting with a private attorney
  • meeting with security officers
  • visiting a shooting range
  • carrying a firearm should Thttp’s supporters take matters into their own hands
  • lined up rides home from school for her child.

Such plans were needed “if I get taken. I won’t say ‘arrested’ because ‘arrested’ suggests legitimacy to it.”

Some are supporting each other in group text messages. There, they commiserate and share contact information for attorneys who could represent them. “There’s dark humor in there, too,” texted one person whose name appeared on Patel’s list of “Members of the Executive Branch Deep State” in his 2023 book “Government Gangsters.”

Trump’s campaign sparked fears from early in his campaign when he told supporters “I am your retribution” and promised to fire government officials and “totally obliterate the deep state.” He also promised to appoint a “real special prosecutor” to go after then-President Joe Biden and what he called the “Biden crime family” and said then-Vice President Kamala Harris “should be impeached and prosecuted.” A week before he was sworn in, Trump reposted a meme on social media calling for the prosecutors who charged him to be “disbarred, indicted and removed from office.”

Officials involved in administering the 2020 election — which Trump has baselessly claimed was stolen from him — say they fear they have particular reason to worry.

Tammy Patrick, the chief program officer at the National Association of Election Officials, said she has spoken with election professionals — from public officials at all levels of government to vendors of election equipment — who view themselves as potential targets.

“People are thinking about whether or not they have cash on hand, valid passports, if they go to another country, what country would that be, how could they make a living,” Patrick said.

Trump — who was impeached twice, convicted by a Manhattan jury in one case and indicted in three others, judged liable for sexual abuse and fined hundreds of millions of dollars in a civil fraud trial — has maintained that the multiple investigations he has faced are politically motivated exercises. They were intended, he has claimed, to block his electoral path, drain his finances and smear his reputation2. He has vowed vengeance against those involved as recently as this month.

Trump’s actions since taking office have only deepened fears that he may make good on promises of payback.

The administration has shaken up the Justice Department, removing at least 15 experienced career officials, a sign that it intends to act on Trump’s promises to transform the agency. Trump has also taken action against officials who have crossed him: He stripped the security clearances of 50 former national security officials, including his former national security adviser, John Bolton. Trump revoked security protection for Bolton and for one of his first-term secretaries of state, Mike Pompeo, despite Iranian threats against him. On Friday evening, the administration removed numerous inspectors general, whose jobs include protection for whistleblowers.

On his first day in office, Trump signed an executive order titled “Ending the Weaponization of the Federal Government” that accused the Biden administration of “unprecedented, third-world weaponization of prosecutorial power to upend the democratic process.” The order invoked the previous administration’s prosecutions of individuals tied to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and directed the attorney general and director of national intelligence to “correct past misconduct.”

The White House insists fears of retribution are unfounded.

Deputy White House press secretary Anna Kelly issued a written response to questions for this story: “President Trump has repeatedly said that success will be his retribution, and he is already ending the weaponization of government with his recent executive orders.”

Few of those who spoke to The Washington Post viewed rhetoric by Trump and his allies as bluster. Biden has called Trump’s philosophy “semi-fascism,” retired Gen. Mark A. Milley has described Trump as “fascist to the core,” and those expressing worry now fear they could face the kind of disruptions that have been associated more with autocracy abroad than democracy in America. Most people who spoke about their preparations said Trump’s return to power represented for them a new phase in the type of threats and acts of intimidation that have defined their lives since the 2020 election.

Olivia Troye, a former Trump administration official who worked for Vice President Mike Pence and has become a vocal Trump critic, said she carefully guards every aspect of her life since Trump’s win in November — vetting doctors and even dog walkers for any signs of political vendettas against her.

The day Troye went public with her concerns about Trump’s behavior in the summer of 2020, she received a call from a senior White House] official who told her he was concerned for her life. The situation got worse after she spoke at the Democratic National Convention. Patel has threatened to sue Troye for comments she made about him on MSNBC.

“It’s about the chilling effects,” she said. “They do want to make an example in hopes that people will get scared.”

Trump’s nomination of Patel, a former prosecutor and onetime national security aide, deepened alarm among those who feel like targets. Since Trump’s 2020 defeat, Patel has spread false information about that election and published a list of “deep state” government officials opposed to the president.

To those who feel at risk, Trump’s selection of Patel to run the nation’s premier law enforcement agency was a clear message that revenge would come. One person watched with dread Trump’s Dec. 8 appearance on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” in which he was asked if he wanted Patel to investigate people on the enemies list.

“If they think that somebody was dishonest or crooked or a corrupt politician, I think he probably has an obligation to do it,” Trump said. He said that he would not direct Patel to probe those people. To one person who expects to be targeted for crossing Trump and his current and former aides and allies, Trump’s answer to the question “was just a green light to Kash Patel to do this sort of thing.”

A spokesperson for Patel referred questions to the White House.

Shortly before he left the White House, Biden issued preemptive pardons to a number of high-profile Trump critics to protect them from possible prosecution. Milley, the former chairman of the )Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Anthony S. Fauci, who helped coordinate the nation’s covid-19 response, were among those pardoned. Members and staff of the Jan. 6 congressional committee and police officers who testified before the panel were pardoned, as well. So were numerous members of Biden’s family.

But the list left out a raft of lower-level figures who have been subjected to threats and harassment from Trump or his allies. Most don’t have the political connections needed to reach White House officials, and many said they didn’t try to seek pardons.

The Trump administration could intimidate critics with far less than a criminal or even congressional investigation. Trump and his allies have a history of threatening those who critique him simply by using social media to “harass and taunt individuals and their families,” said Mark Zaid, an attorney who has represented several people targeted by Trump and his allies. Trump also has filed defamation suits. As president, he said he would order investigations into those he thinks have wronged him, including those who helped investigate the Jan. 6 attack on the Capitol.

Zaid said he has received death threats and been swatted because of his work on cases related to Trump.

“I have been publicly litigating cases against every administration since President Clinton and against terrorist states,” he said. “I have never seen this type of behavior outside of authoritarian states or the history books.”

Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson (D) said years of harassment, litigation and misinformation have helped prepare her for what could come next.

“We’re ready for anything,” said Benson, who launched a bid for governor last week and who oversaw the 2020 and 2024 elections in Michigan. “No amount of bullying or harassment or threats or intimidation is going to change the truth of the 2020 election.”

Benson said she and other Michigan officials who have been targets of harassment aren’t just thinking about defensive measures. They are also looking for ways to go on offense, including proactively calling out misinformation and, if necessary, filing lawsuits such as the ones brought by 2020 Georgia poll workers Ruby Freeman and Shaye Moss. Freeman and Moss reached a settlement this month in a $148 million defamation judgment against Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani.

A month after the 2020 election, two dozen protesters — some of them with guns — showed up at Benson’s home while she was getting ready to watch “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” with her 4-year-old son. Since then, she has kept a go bag. While the last few years have helped prepare her for what could be coming, Benson said she has had to game out new scenarios since the November election.

“Part of it is thinking through how, as a mom, I would prepare my kid for FBI agents showing up at our door,” she said.

One former public official who came under attack after Trump’s 2020 loss in recent weeks has prepared loved ones for a potential investigation, contacted attorneys and acquired an additional weapon for self-defense.

“I hope I’m overprepared and nothing happens,” the former official said.

“The truth is, none of this is fantastical,” the person said. “None of this is people making up things that might happen: These are words that have come directly out of the incoming president’s mouth.”

Some election-related nonprofits and groups that have described Trump as a threat to democracy are retooling training sessions for election officials. They are drafting programs to teach public officials how to respond to subpoenas, interview requests from authorities or legislative bodies, and arrests.

Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis (D) has been fending off Trumpian-led investigations into her office and her conduct since August 2023, when she brought criminal charges against Trump and more than a dozen allies, accusing them of criminally conspiring to overturn his 2020 election loss in the state.

A Georgia appellate court last month disqualified Willis and her office from the case after she was accused of having an improper romantic relationship with an outside lawyer she hired to lead the investigation — a ruling she has asked the Georgia Supreme Court to overturn. Even with the high-profile case in peril, Trumpian allies of Trump have signaled they plan to intensify their probes into the investigation and Willis, who was reelected to a second term in November.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan (T-OH) has accused Willis of conspiring with the Biden [administration](https://www.whitehouse.gov/) to bring charges against Trump. He has subpoenaed documents and information about her office’s contacts and communications with the Justice Department and other Biden officials as well as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. And he has launched a separate probe into whether Willis used federal grants to fund the election interference case.

Willis has so far defied Jordan’s subpoenas, accusing him of trying to subvert the election investigation. Last month, Jordan threatened to hold Willis in contempt of Congress if she does not comply.

On Jan. 13, the Trumpian-led Georgia Senate voted along party lines to reauthorize a special legislative committee investigating Willis and her conduct, including her relationship with Nathan Wade, the former special prosecutor on the Trump case.

Willis has been defiant in the face of the moves.

“I took an oath as a Georgia constitutional officer and as an attorney, and I will uphold those oaths by pursuing accountability for those who victimize others by violating the law. I will not be intimidated by threats or acts of revenge.”

Wingett Sanchez reported from Phoenix. Marley reported from Madison, Wisconsin. Ellison reported from New York. Bailey reported from Atlanta.

  1. ‘Prosecute’ vs. ‘Persecute’ – Merriam-Webster – “One you do in court, the other you do if you’re a jerk.” ↩

  2. @RalphHightower: Trump does a damn fine job of smearing his own reputation. ↩

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