Republicans Should Be Terrified of a Second Trump Term

Trump has more GOP political enemies than Democrats

A year away from next year’s election, and at least some media outlets are taking the threat of a second Trump term seriously. The New York Times reports, for instance, that Trump’s second-term agenda on immigration involves actual concentration camps.

He plans to scour the country for unauthorized immigrants and deport people by the millions per year.

To help speed mass deportations, Mr. Trump is preparing an enormous expansion of a form of removal that does not require due process hearings. To help Immigration and Customs Enforcement carry out sweeping raids, he plans to reassign other federal agents and deputize local police officers and National Guard soldiers voluntarily contributed by Republican-run states.

To ease the strain on ICE detention facilities, Mr. Trump wants to build huge camps to detain people while their cases are processed and they await deportation flights.

The Muslim ban will seem quaint compared to what Trump plans to do, including yanking "visas of foreign students who participated in anti-Israel or pro-Palestinian protests,” while those with “undesirable attitudes” will be blocked from immigrating. He would also end birthright citizenship and DACA.

It’s not just in immigration where he will use his authoritarian powers. He’ll pardon the January 6th insurrectionists, he will purge the government and install only those loyal to him, and he has openly admitted that he will use the Justice Department to punish his political enemies. He will use it as a form of retribution. He’s not being shy about it. "If I happen to be president and I see somebody who’s doing well and beating me very badly, I say, ‘Go down and indict them.’ They’d be out of business. They’d be out of the election,” he told Univision a few days ago.

Over the weekend, meanwhile, he gave a Veteran’s Day speech that elicited this headline from The Washington Post:

“We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country that lie and steal and cheat on elections,” Trump told a crowd of adoring fans. When he says “radical left thugs,” he means Democrats, journalists, or anyone else who dares cross him.

And that includes Republicans. Donald Trump does not like Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, or Barack Obama, but he seems to hold a special hatred for those in his own party who have betrayed him. I’m talking about Jeff Sessions, Bill Barr, Michael Cohen, Mitch McConnell, or any of the other hundreds who have betrayed or even disappointed him. Everyone that comes into Trump’s orbit, it seems, is eventually burned by Trump, and the people most likely to come into Trump’s orbit are other Republicans because, ultimately, Donald Trump turns on everyone.

Donald Trump will require 100 percent fealty. Remember how he used to go around the table and make his cabinet say flattering things about him? It will be that times a hundred in a second term. If someone from his own party tries to stand up to him, Trump will use the Justice Department to prosecute them. And when he goes after his own people, he’ll get less pushback because Democrats are going to be too worried about their own asses. If I were a Republican who wasn’t a full-blown MAGA, I’d be terrified of a second Trump presidency.

Other Political Notes from the Weekend

— Trump does not use authoritarian language, his campaign insists through the use of authoritarian language.

— Tim Scott has suspended his Presidential campaign. Finally, no one will ask him about his girlfriend anymore.

— It seems early to make this announcement, but I’m happy to hear that Democrat Abigail Spanberger will run for governor of Virginia in 2025. She won three elections for the House of Representatives in vulnerable, competitive districts where the Republicans always spent a ton of money in an effort to stop her. In each of three successive elections, her share of the vote continued to grow.

— Whatever else you might think of Bill Burr, it’s hard not to love his wife.

— Finally, there are many reasons not to vote for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., but if you need just one … I’m not saying the Justice Department should open an investigation, but I’m not not saying that, either.