Donald Trump wants to talk about revenge, and neither Sean Hannity nor Dr. Phil can stop him.
Both have tried.
Fresh off his historic guilty plea in New York, Trump’s public comments, including in interviews with both men, have increasingly focused on the idea of ”retaliation” against his enemies if he returns to the White House.
This rhetoric is driven by Trump’s obsession that President Joe Biden and Democrats orchestrated a series of legal challenges designed to derail his presidential campaign — a theory of political persecution unsupported by the facts.
On May 31, a jury in New York unanimously found Trump guilty of 34 charges related to falsifying company records related to a $130,000 payment he made to an adult film star during the 2016 election. The Biden administration had nothing to do with the case.
But for Trump, it’s all politics, and revenge may have to be taken.
“Well, revenge takes time, I will say that,” Trump said Thursday during an interview with Dr. Phil. “And sometimes revenge can be justified, Phil, I have to be honest. Sometimes that is possible.”
Trump, whose campaign did not return a request for comment, has conducted at least five interviews since his conviction. He talked about possible retaliation at all five.
“I think there should be cause for concern,” said Ty Cobb, the attorney who served as White House counsel during the Trump administration. “From a 30,000-foot perspective, I see that Trump is angrier now than before because he has now been convicted.”
The Dr. Phil interview came a day after Trump sat down with Hannity and at times appeared to debate with himself about the idea of retaliating.
At one point, Trump said “they’re wrong” when the Fox News host asked about those who say Trump will use his administration for revenge, but in the same breath he outlined potential opportunities.
“Look when this election is over, based on what they’ve done, I would have every right to go after them,” Trump said. “And it’s easy because it’s Joe Biden, and you see all the crime, all the money going to the family and him, all this money from China, from Russia, from Ukraine.”
Hannity tried to steer Trump away from the idea of revenge, interrupting at one point to encourage him to say that the political retaliation “must stop.”
Also Dr. Phil tried to get Trump to say he wouldn’t retaliate if he won in November.
“That’s a big problem and I was very much leaning towards the position of saying, ‘Look, this isn’t going to help this country,’” Dr. Phil to CNN about his interview with Trump.
In other interviews and public appearances, Trump has made similar comments.
On Tuesday, Trump appeared to raise the possibility of jailing his political opponents if he becomes president again in an interview with conservative news channel Newsmax.
“So you know, it’s a terrible, terrible path that they’re leading us down, and it’s very possible that it’s going to happen to them,” Trump said.
“Does this mean the next president will do this to them? That’s really the question,” he added.
He has also suggested there would be a “breaking point” for the public if he is sentenced to prison or home detention as he awaits his July 11 sentencing.
An open desire to exact revenge on political enemies is not something new for Trump and his supporters.
While still president in 2020, Trump took to social media to ask, “Where are all the arrests?” echoing criticism from his supporters that his own attorney general, William Barr, had not arrested people like Biden, former President Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton for what Trump said were illegal activities related to Special Counsel’s Russia investigation Robert Mueller.
Trump also made “lock her up” a rallying cry during his 2016 campaign against Clinton, promising supporters that he would put the former secretary of state in prison if elected. Trump recently denied ever saying “lock her up,” despite ample video of him saying exactly that during the 2016 election.
Trump often portrays his calls for retaliation as something he is doing on behalf of all his supporters.
“I know a lot of Republicans who want retaliation,” Trump told NBC News at Mar-a-Lago on Thursday. “That’s what they want to do. We’ll see what happens.”
He told a crowd at the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference that “to those who have been wrong and betrayed, I am your retribution.” In January, he said on Fox News that he “will have no time for retaliation” if elected — comments that came just hours after he sent another fundraising email telling supporters: “I AM YOUR REFUND. ”
But as the full weight of his legal troubles have come into view this year — and especially since his guilty verdict — this revenge-fueled language has taken center stage.
“Even Hannity realized this was dangerous territory and tried to bring him in,” said Cobb, who, while in the White House, helped coordinate the internal response to Mueller’s Russia investigation. “Trump would have none of it.”
Cobb said he believes the country’s institutions would hold if Trump attempted clearly politically motivated revenge, but it was still a situation fraught with danger.
“I think the checks and balances are enough to resist these instincts because he has to get people to do them,” he added.
For Trump’s political base, the renewed focus on exacting revenge from political opponents has support.
“I agree with him,” said Adam Radogna, a 35-year-old Trump supporter from Cleveland. “Obviously there’s nothing against the law, you know. But he just says, “Hey, we’re going after you because you’re going after me.”
Parker Shonts, a 22-year-old Trump supporter from Fowlerville, Michigan, said it’s about “accountability.”
“I would say ‘revenge’ is a buzzword in the campaigns, but ‘accountability’ seems more appropriate,” he said.
Calls for revenge among Trump supporters intensified again Thursday when a federal judge ordered former Trump adviser Steve Bannon to report to prison on July 1 to face a four-month prison sentence for defying committee subpoenas of January 6. The news angered Trump supporters and prompted Bannon to make direct threats.
‘Don’t pray for me. Pray for my enemies,” Bannon said Thursday. “They are the ones who need it.”
In response to Bannon’s prison order, Trump posted on Truth Socail that members of the January 6 committee should be charged.
“CLAIM THE UNSELECTED J6 COMMITTEE FOR ILLEGALLY REMOVING AND DESTROYING ALL THEIR ‘FINDINGS!’” Trump wrote.
This article was originally published on NBCNews.com
