Trump Issues Sinister Threat to 'Root Out' Leftists If Elected in 2024
"We are a failing nation. We are a
nation in serious decline," Trump, the current Republican presidential
frontrunner, told the crowd gathered in Claremont, New Hampshire. "2024 is
our final battle."
The former president vowed to target
communists and Marxists—ideological groups that he described as "radical
left lunatics"—and "rout the fake news media until they become
real."
"The real threat is not from the
radical right. The real threat is from the radical left, and it's growing every
day—every single day," Trump claimed. "The threat from outside forces
is far less sinister, dangerous, and grave than the threat from within."
David DeWitt, editor-in-chief of the Ohio
Capital Journal, characterized Trump's remarks as
"rhetoric literally out of the Nazi playbook" and joined others in
criticizing The New York Times for initially headlining its coverage of the
speech, "Trump Takes Veterans Day Speech in a Very Different
Direction."
The former president also said Saturday that his administration would launch the "largest domestic deportation operation in American history," institute "strong and ideological screenings for all immigrants," revive the Muslim ban, further slash taxes, gut regulations, and prioritize the approval of fossil fuel pipelines.
Trump's speech heightened alarm over his
authoritarian intentions should he win another term in the White House four
years after attempting to overturn the election that removed him from power.
The former president is currently facing more than 90 felony charges,
many of them stemming from his election subversion efforts and the January 6,
2021 insurrection that he provoked.
The Washington Post reported earlier
this month that Trump and his allies "have begun mapping out specific
plans for using the federal government to punish critics and opponents should
he win a second term, with the former president naming individuals he wants to
investigate or prosecute and his associates drafting plans to potentially
invoke the Insurrection Act on his first day in office to allow him to deploy
the military against civil demonstrations."
"In public, Trump has vowed to appoint
a special prosecutor to 'go after' President Biden and
his family. The former president has frequently made corruption accusations
against them that are not supported by available evidence,"
the Post noted. "To facilitate Trump's ability to direct
Justice Department actions, his associates have been drafting plans to dispense
with 50 years of policy and practice intended to shield criminal prosecutions
from political considerations. Critics have called such ideas dangerous and
unconstitutional."
Philadelphia Inquirer columnist Will Bunch argued the scheme
"would be, in essence, the military coup that [Trump] wasn't quite able to
pull off on January 6, 2021."
Pointing to a recent survey that
showed Trump leading incumbent President Joe Biden—who is running for
reelection—in key battleground states, Bunch warned that "America is on
the brink of installing a strongman in the White Housewhose team has been
surprisingly open about their plans for an autocratic, 'Red Caesar' rule that would
undo constitutional governance."
In response to Trump's threat to "root
out" leftists, Bunch wrote on social media, "Looks like
someone picked up the book of Hitler speeches on his nightstand recently."