The Atlantic
“During the first two months of his presidency, the prevailing theme of Trump’s White House was the Elon Musk–led attempt to drastically cut federal agencies,” David A. Graham writes. “The purge is incomplete—the U.S. DOGE Service continues to seek cuts at more agencies, and litigation has slowed or blocked some of the cuts—but we seem to have already moved into the next stage: revenge.” https://theatln.tc/r8wPheW8
Last week, Donald Trump directed the government to investigate two officials in his first administration: Chris Krebs, who headed the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, and Miles Taylor, who was chief of staff at the Department of Homeland Security. Krebs, whose work focused on election security, was fired for refusing to say that fraud tainted the 2020 presidential election; Taylor wrote a notable anonymous New York Times op-ed about administration officials resisting Trump, then published a book and worked to organize Republican opposition to Trump.
“One might be tempted to think that Trump’s new orders rely on pretexts to target the duo, but they don’t even really bother: They’re pretty straightforward about the reasons. Trump is starting with a conclusion that the two men did something wrong and demanding the government work backwards to find some evidence to support it,” Graham writes. “You don’t have to be a fan of either Krebs or Taylor to be alarmed by these actions.”
One prominent target for Trump’s retribution: law firms. Trump has gone after a series of major firms simply because current or former attorneys there were involved in things Trump hated. Some of these firms have struck deals. As The Wall Street Journal reports, these deals have been negotiated by Trump’s personal lawyer Boris Epshteyn, who is not a government employee—making clear that these causes relate to Trump’s personal revenge.
“But then, Trump has never seen much distinction between his own interests and the power of the government. For him, revenge isn’t just a welcome adjunct to controlling the levels of government. It’s the reason to control them,” Graham continues.
