Donald Trump relished the thought that a return to the White House would give him the power to take down the “deep state” actors who once opposed him — and nearly sent him to prison.
Just hours after being sworn in as America’s 47th president, his revenge campaign was underway.
Among the first 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 First, Bolton’s security clearance was revoked. Then Trump ordered the removal of the protective detail assigned to Bolton in 2019 after threats to his life from Iran.
“We won’t have security data on people for the rest of our lives — why would we? I thought he was a very stupid person,” he said Trump on Tuesday.
Bolton said he was “disappointed but not surprised.”
That could be just the beginning as Trump moves to crack down on perceived opponents in government, targeting targets from intelligence agencies to the military, financial and business regulators, and within the law enforcement apparatus itself.
It could mark a new era for the US – and the way it is governed, with favors and punishments doled out according to the whims of the leader rather than the judgments of career officials guided by the long-agreed rules of their institutions.
For Trump, it’s a moment of vindication as he weeds out officials who thwarted his agenda during his first term or deepened his legal peril as federal criminal charges are brought against him in 2023.
“Never again will the vast power of the state be used as a weapon to persecute political opponents,” he said in his inaugural address at the Capitol on Monday.
A few hours later he signed executive order on “weaponizing” the government, authorizing sweeping reviews of US intelligence and other agencies to correct “past misconduct” through “appropriate action.”
“It’s an open move against resistance,” said Yuval Levin, a senior fellow at the conservative American Enterprise Institute, speaking of the order.
He said it was “too early to tell” whether Trump was simply sending a message to civil servants to “bow down” to his radical agenda or “to retool the bureaucracy to be more fully at the service of the president.” .
Intelligence agencies are a particular focus for Trump. In another of the executive orders signed during Monday night’s raids, Trump revoked the security clearances of 50 former intelligence officials, alleging they coordinated with former President Joe Biden’s campaign to discredit coverage of his scandal-prone son Hunter Biden.
The order echoed language used by Kash Patel, Trump’s controversial pick to head the FBI pending Senate confirmation.
Patel has long advocated the removal of security clearances to root out the “deep state”.
A former US intelligence official said the measure would have a “chilling effect” on the agencies. “This is a clear sign that Trump will use the approvals for political reasons. Because of this, people will be wary of speaking their minds.”
“Anything that suggests clearances are being manipulated for political purposes will damage the confidence of 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 just minutes after his inauguration, officials removed a portrait of his former military adviser — and eventually biggest critic — retired Gen. Mark Milley. On Monday, Trump also fired Linda Fagan, the head of the Coast Guard, with one senior official saying she had “over-focused on diversity, equity and inclusion” and mismanaged border security.
But Trump’s plans go far beyond the confines of the American security apparatus. The “weaponizing” executive order calls for increased scrutiny from the Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission, along with other enforcement agencies such as the Justice Department.
Pam Bondi, Trump’s pick for attorney general, promised that “investigators will be investigated” and that “bad” prosecutors will be prosecuted.
“I’m concerned that this only authorizes arming the government against perceived enemies,” said Ryan Goodman, a professor at New York University School of Law.
“Ordinarily, there may be nothing wrong with retrospective investigations of potential government wrongdoing,” he added. But this order was “created with candidates in mind who would enter the government with a list of enemies. It is a very worrying combination for the state of democracy in the country.”
Trump has previously called for the prosecution of opponents, including Nancy Pelosi, the former Democratic speaker of the House of Representatives, and former Vice President Kamala Harris, whom he defeated in the 2024 general election. He also threatened to appoint a special prosecutor to “attack” Joe Biden.
Biden himself took this threat — and others — seriously enough to preemptively pardon members of his own family and prime potential targets such as Milley and members of the commission investigating the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the Capitol building, including former Congresswoman Liz Cheney, shortly before than he left the office.
Trump is also targeting federal workers, vowing to roll back employment protections that were strengthened under Biden for tens of thousands of career government employees in “policy-related” jobs — a way to easily fire government workers who oppose his plan.
Meanwhile, while revoking the security clearances of his alleged enemies, he issued a separate executive order to immediately grant temporary clearances to “qualified and reliable personnel” of his choosing.
“Our foreign adversaries are drooling over this Trump executive order that gives individuals without proper vetting and background checks an instant top secret clearance,” Olivia Troye, a former Trump administration official turned critic of the president, wrote on X.
