Donald Trump is delighted to be back in the White House, which will empower him to take down the “deep state” actors who once opposed him and nearly sent him to jail.
His revenge began just hours after he was sworn in as the 47th President of the United States.
One of the early targets was John Bolton, Trump’s former national security adviser and one of the president’s harshest critics. First, Bolton’s security clearance was revoked. Trump then ordered the removal of protective personnel assigned to Bolton in 2019 after Iran threatened Bolton’s life.
“We don’t keep people’s security details for the rest of their lives – why would we? I think he’s a very stupid person,” Trump said on Tuesday.
Bolton said he was “disappointed but not surprised.”
This could be just the beginning of Trump’s campaign to crack down on perceived adversaries in the government, with targets ranging from intelligence agencies to military, financial and business regulators, as well as law enforcement agencies themselves.
It could signal a new era in America and the way it is governed, in which favors and punishments are dispensed based on the whims of leaders rather than the long-agreed rules of their institutions that guide the judgment of career officials.
It’s a moment of vindication for Trump as he ousts officials who stymied his agenda during his first term or deepens his legal turmoil as federal criminal cases mount against him in 2023 Danger.
“Never again will the tremendous power of our country be weaponized to persecute political opponents,” he said during his inaugural address at the Capitol on Monday.
Hours later, he signed an executive order on the “weaponization” of the government, authorizing a sweeping review of U.S. intelligence and other agencies to correct “past misconduct” through “appropriate actions.”
“This is an open-ended counter-resistance move,” Yuval Levin, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, said of the order.
He said it was “too early to tell” whether Trump was simply sending a message to civil servants to “distance themselves” from his radical agenda, or whether he was “rearranging the bureaucracy to more fully serve the president.”
Intelligence agencies are a particular focus of Trump’s attention. In another executive order signed during Monday night’s blitz, Trump revoked the security clearances of 50 former intelligence officials, claiming they worked with former President Joe Biden’s campaign to smear stories about his scandal-plagued son Hunter ·Biden reporting.
The order echoes language used by Kash Patel, Trump’s controversial nominee for FBI director who is awaiting Senate confirmation.
Patel has long advocated removing security clearances to root out the “deep state.”
A former U.S. intelligence official said the measure would have a “chilling effect” on agencies. “This is a clear sign that Trump will use permission for political reasons. It will make people cautious about speaking their mind.
“Anything that suggests clearances are being manipulated for political purposes undermines trust in the intelligence community,” said Emily Harding, director of the Intelligence, National Security and Technology Program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Trump also sent a clear message to the Pentagon, where officials removed a portrait of retired Gen. Mark Milley, his former top military adviser and eventual chief critic, just minutes after taking office. On Monday, Trump also fired Coast Guard Adm. Linda Fagan, who a senior official said was “overly focused on diversity, equity and inclusion” and mishandled border security.
But Trump’s plans extend far beyond the confines of the U.S. security establishment. The executive order on “weaponization” requires more scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, as well as other law enforcement agencies such as the Department of Justice.
Trump’s nominee for attorney general, Pam Bondi, vowed that “investigators will be investigated” and “bad” prosecutors will be prosecuted.
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“I’m concerned that this gives the government the power to weaponize itself against its supposed enemies,” said Ryan Goodman, a professor at New York University School of Law.
“Generally speaking, there may be nothing wrong with conducting a retrospective investigation into potential government misconduct,” he added. But the order “already takes into account those nominees who will enter the government with a list of enemies. This is a very worrying combination for the state of democracy in the country.”
Trump has previously called for the prosecution of opponents, including former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and former Vice President Kamala Harris, whom he defeated in the 2024 election. He also threatened to appoint a special prosecutor to “go after” Joe Biden.
Biden himself takes this and other threats very seriously, issuing preemptive warnings to his own family and top potential targets like Milley and members of the team investigating the January 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol, including a former congresswoman. pardon.
Trump has also taken aim at federal workers, vowing to roll back job protections under Biden for tens of thousands of career civil servants working in “policy-related” jobs, making it easier to lay off government jobs for those balking at his agenda personnel.
Meanwhile, as he revoked security clearances for his enemies, he issued a separate executive order immediately granting temporary clearances to “qualified and trustworthy individuals” of his choice.
“Our foreign adversaries are salivating over this Trump executive order, which would allow individuals to immediately obtain top-secret clearances without proper vetting and background checks,” said Olivia, a former Trump administration official who became a critic of the president. ·Olivia Troye wrote on X.
