Maddow Blog-If Trump can sic the Justice Department on his critics and perceived enemies, who's next?

[LetMyPeopleVote]

The president has an enemies list, and this week, he began using the power of the presidency to target two of its members. That can't be a one-day story.
https://bsky.app/profile/stevebenen.com/post/3lmklyk2a3k27

The executive orders targeting Christopher Krebs and Miles Taylor shouldn't be a one-day story.

If Trump can sic the Justice Department on his critics and perceived enemies with impunity, who's next?

Link to tweet

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-can-sic-justice-department-critics-perceived-enemies-s-rcna200897

Late Wednesday, without warning, the Republican incumbent signed two first-of-their-kind orders targeting two former Trump administration officials who’d defied him. In the first EO, the president directed Attorney General Pam Bondi and the Department of Homeland Security to launch a “review” into Christopher Krebs, who led the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) and was “one of the heroes“ of the post-2020 election crisis.

In the second, Trump also directed the Department of Homeland Security to investigate Miles Taylor, a former high-ranking DHS official who became a prominent Trump critic, alerting the public to allegations that he personally witnessed the president’s corruption and ineptitude......

But that was hardly the most important problem with the underlying effort. As The New York Times reported, the broader significance of the orders was that Trump’s demands for investigations “are starting to become more formalized through written presidential decrees as he seeks to use the power of public office to punish people and companies he has cast as enemies and silence potential critics.”

On Wednesday, Mr. Trump crossed a new line. ... The memos send a stark message: To oppose Mr. Trump will mean risking punishment at the hands of the federal government. ... Mr. Trump is openly using his control of the executive branch to satisfy his desire for retribution against people he perceives as working against him. And his officials are readily helping him.

Tthere are countries abroad where tactics like these are common. But they’re authoritarian countries, not liberal democracies......

When I wrote about this yesterday, I received a note from a regular reader who joked, “Joe Biden should’ve pardoned more people.” That might be true, though I’m not convinced it would matter: Trump has already said that, as far as he’s concerned, his predecessor’s presidential pardons don’t really count.

I’m reminded anew of J. Michael Luttig, a prominent conservative legal scholar put on the federal bench by President George H.W. Bush who published a Bluesky thread on Wednesday’s orders, calling them “shameful” and “constitutionally corrupt” and accused Trump of “palpably unconstitutional conduct.”

If there’s limited pushback, it is an invitation to Trump to engage in still more palpably unconstitutional conduct.

[gohuskies]

1. Mango Mussolini is in the process of turning the federal government into a police state

This serial psycho crime boss is looking for absolute dictatorial powers and will stop at nothing to achieve this goal. I fear for our nation but will vocally oppose and protest this dark evil stain in American history.

[Hotler]

2. In the begining was thinking Garland would move swift and hard against the orange convict and his henchmen

just to keep this shit from happening.

[Trueblue1968]

3. Deport Don The Con