Trump Is Not on a “Retribution Tour;” He’s on an Authoritarian Spree
A wave of media commentary about Trump’s lawsuit against Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register for engaging in First Amendment protected speech has treated it as somehow more ominous than any of the other nuisance lawsuits Trump has filed over the decades.
I’m skeptical whether this marks a newfound escalation (or even whether ABC’s settlement with Trump had any effect at all on it); remember Trump’s lawsuit against the Pulitzer Prize for rewarding NYT and WaPo journalism that (as I laid out) got to the core of the Russian investigation rather than the stuff Trump distracted people with, which — like the ABC one — won the support of a Florida judge sympathetic to Trump’s bullshit misrepresentations, in this case about the Russian investigation?
This Selzer lawsuit follows a long thread of similar ones that are just as abusive, attempts, like so much else that Trump does, to create his own false reality.
What I do know, though, is that contrary to at least three columns (TPM, Puck, Status), Trump is not on a retribution tour.
retribution
noun
ret·ri·bu·tion ˌre-trə-ˈbyü-shən
Synonyms of retribution
1: recompense, reward
2: the dispensing or receiving of reward or punishment especially in the hereafter
3: something given or exacted in recompense
especially : punishmentDid you know?
With its prefix re-, meaning “back”, retribution means literally “payback”. And indeed we usually use it when talking about personal revenge, whether it’s retribution for an insult in a high-school corridor or retribution for a guerrilla attack on a government building. But retribution isn’t always so personal: God takes “divine retribution” on humans several times in the Old Testament, especially in the great Flood that wipes out almost the entire human race. And retribution for criminal acts, usually in the form of a prison sentence, is taken by the state, not the victims.Synonyms
payback
reprisal
requital
retaliation
revenge
vengeance
If you believe Trump is on a retribution tour, you are accepting his claim that truthful reporting of (flawed) survey results, or truthful reporting of what sources say about Trump associates’ attempts to cover up their ties to Russia, or truthful labeling of lies as lies, amount to some kind of harm.
If you use the term “retribution” to describe Trump’s attacks on the press, you are accepting his frame that free speech that accurately describes his faults is somehow wrong, an injury to be avenged.
Worse still, if you adopt his frame — retribution — you are normalizing the false claims of grievance that animated Trump’s entire campaign, from the kickoff in Waco to the far right rally in Madison Square Garden — a campaign of grievance explicitly defending insurrection against democracy, as Jonathan Karl laid out over a year ago.
He declared, “2024 is the final battle.”
This wasn’t a campaign speech in any traditional sense. Trump echoed the themes of paranoia and foreboding that grew out of the Waco massacre. “As far as the eye can see, the abuses of power that we’re currently witnessing at all levels of government will go down as among the most shameful, corrupt, and depraved chapters in all of American history,” he said.
“They’re not coming after me,” he told the crowd. “They’re coming after you.”
The message seemed to resonate, but its brazenness was staggering. The folks cheering Trump had not taken boxes stuffed with classified documents out of the White House—and it’s safe to assume that none of them spent tens of thousands of dollars to cover up an affair with an adult‐film star.
Whatever you think about the investigations, Trump invited the scrutiny. Special Counsel Jack Smith was probing Trump’s role in the January 6 attack and his failure to turn over that classified material. Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis was investigating his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential-election results in Georgia. And Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg was nearing an indictment on charges related to hush‐money payments Trump made weeks before the 2016 election to the porn star Stormy Daniels.
“The DOJ and FBI are destroying the lives of so many Great American Patriots, right before our very eyes,” Trump posted on Truth Social the day after four members of the Proud Boys militia were convicted of seditious conspiracy for their role in the storming of the Capitol. “GET SMART AMERICA, THEY ARE COMING AFTER YOU!!!”
[snip]
“The sinister forces trying to kill America have done everything they can to stop me, to silence you, and to turn this nation into a socialist dumping ground for criminals, junkies, Marxists, thugs, radicals, and dangerous refugees that no other country wants,” he said. The speech was ominous, but one rhetorical flourish stood out. “In 2016, I declared I am your voice. Today, I add: I am your warrior; I am your justice,” Trump said. “And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.” He repeated the last phrase—“I am your retribution”—and promptly the crowd started chanting: “U.S.A.! U.S.A.! U.S.A.!”
When I spoke with Bannon a few days later, he wouldn’t stop touting Trump’s performance, referring to it as his “Come Retribution” speech. What I didn’t realize was that “Come Retribution,” according to some Civil War historians, served as the code words for the Confederate Secret Service’s plot to take hostage—and eventually assassinate—President Abraham Lincoln.
“The use of the key phrase ‘Come Retribution’ suggests that the Confederate government had made a bitter decision to repay some of the misery that had been inflicted on the South,” William A. Tidwell, James O. Hall, and David Winfred Gaddy wrote in the 1988 book Come Retribution: The Confederate Secret Service and the Assassination of Lincoln. “Bitterness may well have been directed toward persons held to be particularly responsible for that misery, and Abraham Lincoln certainly headed the list.”
Trump’s authoritarian project depends on convincing masses of people that accurate descriptions about him, or equal application of the law to him, or good faith if flawed efforts to measure the number of Iowans who prefer someone else to be president harm not just him, but them, his followers. Trump’s authoritarian project depends on convincing people that because he can’t withstand truthful descriptions, his followers must oppose the truth as a grievous harm, a crime.
Trump’s authoritarian project depends on packaging up his assault on truth as justice.
That’s what you buy into when you use the word “retribution” to describe what he’s doing.
No person who cherishes journalism, truth, democracy should be a party to that kind of obfuscation.
What wins is what’s right, and the fascist leader is the instrument of History’s retribution. Trump always lies because he’s wearing the mask of a dead God which makes his lies seem true, and your truth a lie. In this archetype, I think Trump is playing Elijah where the election is like the altar the Lord’s fire burned, Elijah’s altar, despite being doused with barrels of water. Though the altar of the prophets of Baal did not burn, so they were put to death. The election showed those who opposed Trump deserve retribution because “they are not as wise as the American people”. It’s just a trick. Politics isn’t everything. History isn’t God, and what was true will always be true.
Uh, huh.
Sorry earl. It’s hard to get at this. Marcy’s points are valid, but why do people accept and use the word “retribution” with Trump, while, in the past, accepting this script would seem, frankly, unAmerican. Nixon had an “enemies list”, and that was shocking. Why not anymore?
Everyone expects those who opposed Trump to be punished. We expect it, so it won’t be shocking when it happens, but if it’s not going to be shocking, don’t we already have acceptance? I think we have acceptance because fascist leadership formation has the nature of a religion. In Capitalism, whatever wins is right. Like in Marxism, history is worshiped instead of God, so what happens in the world is no different than prophecy or revelation of God’s will. History is creative destruction, and so the fascist avatar carries out purges, but fascism is ultimately nihilistic and anti-religious because History isn’t God. Society didn’t create you or the world.
I see two things being true at the same time: 1. Trump is vindictive and has been for decades. 2. Trump is an authoritarian who understands he must have buy-in, self-identification from supporters. For me, these two things dovetail.
Trump’s on an authoritarian rant that includes retribution. If I had the intestinal fortitude, I’d rewatch the movie “Brazil.”
Thanks for parroting Trump’s authoritarianism in my digital living room.
I apologize for parroting in your platform space. Truly.
The point of the post seems to have been lost on you. Also I would argue “authoritarian rant” is a pretty milquetoast way of putting it.
Sorry in advance Rayne but I think this is what I’ve used for a username in the past.
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Yes, I missed the point of the post. Should not have used the word rant, either. Why soft pedal? I’m probably toast (as are we all on here) seeing as my digital fingerprints can be traced. I may die in a gulag somewhere and that’s no milquetoast.
Being vindictive is a source of terror. It may alleviate his fear, but its purpose is to help create the authoritarian. It’s not a separate plank of a personality platform. Being an authoritarian makes his fantasies real. It gets Trump what he wants without having to think about or ask for it, without having to negotiate or trade for it, like a normal human or even a politician. “Self-identification” is for his supporters to worry about.
To paraphrase Joubert, Trump doesn’t interest himself in “why.” He more often thinks in terms of “when,” sometimes “where,” and always “how much.”
Actually, I think “retribution” is a reasonable description of what Trump is doing.
To that guy, all non-Trump-worshipping independent speech is an attack…whether it’s factual or not is irrelevant. Now he’s in power, he’ll attack them back!
That’s what retribution –is–. Whether it’s justified or not is not really the point. The scary part is he will soon have DOJ to do his attacking for him.
Freedom of speech could disappear in this country a lot faster than anyone could imagine. Knowing that, I fear (and I think Trump expects) the defendants in this case will fold rather than fight.
Note how you IMMEDIATELY put yourself in Trump’s mind.
You’ve made my point for me. What Trump claims to believe is false. By adopting that false frame, you adopt his authoritarian viewpoint.
YOU need to reread what I actually said. I am NOT adopting anyone’s viewpoint, your accusations notwithstanding. But I AM stating the -true- fact that Trump thinks he’s being attacked. Therefore, my point is, the term “retribution” is actually appropriate. Not his actions, but the term itself.
“Retribution” assumes that the punishment is “justly deserved” for a wrong previously committed, and that it’s proportional to that original harm.
Harming someone who has not previously harmed you is not retribution. It’s being the aggressor. Trump’s formulation is propaganda, designed to distract from that.
Your formulation, however, requires believing a known congenital liar, when he says that he is only acting in self-defense against someone who harmed him in the first place, and who, according to Trump, intends to harm him again. That seems credulous to me.
Exactly
And as you have pointed out, and it bears repeating, the narrow framing misses the point that these statements by Trump about his purposes are entirely pretextual —- not merely in the narrow sense that Cheney (or any other of targets) were righteous actors, but also in the wider sense that this is really about manifesting demonstrations of his power and his will.
Making the targets suffer is a desirable end. But it is not THE goal. He is doing it because he can. It is a demonstration of his broader intent to smash things up, because he can, and that the only constraint he is prepared to recognise is his own will.
He is staking out, even before the metaphorical mantle of immunity is draped around him, a claim to impose his will on events now; and moreover, that he is demonstrating that he sees the ambit of his Presidential authority is co-extensive with his will.
LOLOLOLOL
You said, “I AM stating the -true- fact that Trump thinks.”
No, you need to read what YOU wrote. You put yourself in Trump’s brain.
You have no fucking clue what Trump really thinks. You just accept his con as if what he says is true.
And THAT is the point. To make your argument, you adopt Trump’s con as good faith.
I would be curious to get empywheel’s take on the Josh Marshall plan on the go fund me-type public legal defense fund that’s been floated to fight these civil lawsuits where targeted people may not have the means to fight back in court. On one hand, and in light of the post above, it seems to grant legitimacy to his tactics by participating in fighting them in court. On the other hand, people want to fight back and not just sit back and watch him go after the person running a poll in Iowa, for example. The ACLU and other current organizations aren’t going to be enough.
Trump perceives his persecution as retribution, but I agree with Dr. Wheeler that it’s not. He’s reacting to injuries, but those injuries are the result of the blameless, ethical pursuit of justice by others, not persecution by others.
Also, I prefer the OED definition of retribution: punishment inflicted on someone as vengeance for a wrong or criminal act. The Merriam-Webster definition above includes retribution as a possible reward – I’ve never heard that sense of the word.
I checked Language Log to see if this issue has been discussed – the closest I found misses the mark: https://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=65199
PensionDan actually looked it up. Retribution doesn’t fit. But it is an easy explanation for the press, which allows it not to dig too deeply into what’s going on. That might require them to put two and two together, something it demeans as speculation.
Marcy’s point is that facts do matter and that Trump is a congenital liar. Nothing he says can be taken for the truth. He’s not “getting back” at anyone, for example, for real or imagined harm. The “getting even” argument is a ploy, to justify unjustifiable conduct.
Rather, Trump is imposing his authoritarian will, a gambit that usually starts with the least powerful and works its way up. That’s one reason Timothy Snyder’s warning about not obeying in advance is so important, even if it’s widely ignored.
To use words shoddily is to betray the whole point of the profession of journalist, unless said journalists imagine that the point of the profession of journalist is to site oneself close to power, and then to joy in that illusory sharing. This is not a criticism, btw, but an agreement. (And all hail Robin of Locksley!)
“Journalism is printing something that someone does not want printed. Everything else is public relations.”
–George Orwell
It’s aggression, but aggression is the second step in the process.
First, Trump first creates an imagined grievance.
From then on—to him, his supporters, the courtier press, and those willing to accept and amplify the framing—it’s “retribution.”
Creating the excuse for aggressive acts, by creating a false pretext to justify them, is part of the aggression. That’s one of Marcy’s points.
I am afraid you mis-use the term retribution
Retribution is a key term in the philosophy of law, more specifically the philosophy of just punishment under law.
The key principles of the just purposes of punishment are
•Deterrence — both specific (deterring the particular offender from repeating the crime) and general (deterring the public at large from committing similar offences
•Protection—Keep the public safe from criminals
•Reformation—-Make criminals better people
•Retribution— Make criminals pay for their crimes (and by measure for measure, pay proportionately to the offence committed, and proportionately to the gravity of the offence within the punishment scheme for offences generally)
•Reparations—-Compensate victims of crimes
• Vindication——Ensure the law is respected
Of course we might add adjectives to the concept to convey Trumps malicious, self interested, vindictive, or spiteful reframing of it to serve his own needs or ends eg Trump’s vindictive retribution tour, Trump’s spiteful retribution tour or whatever.
But Trump and MAGA propagandists have already groomed his supporters to believe both that “Spite is Right” and that to accuse him of Spite would be to heap further calumny upon a man unjustly accused and vilified for and on behalf of his supporters.
I have laid out this schema, because we can see within it Trump the spiteful vindictive narcissist that he is, reframes to his own ends not merely the concept of retribution, but virtually all the concepts, to a greater or lesser degree.
Unsurprisingly, since threats of condign punishment is central to his entire politics.
Tim Snyder has coined the term ‘Sado-populism’ which in part encapsulates the ‘Spite is Right’ element of the MAGA social psychology.
For my part, I cannot think of a useful short hand framing, which will not be distorted factually or morally by MAGA to serve their ends, even though Trump’s unjustifiable intent to inflict suffering on those who righteously dared to hold him properly to account, is plain to see.
Trump’s Tyrrany Try On.
Excellent, Marcy. This is going to be a long hard slog.
Political consultant Sarah Longwell described a Trumpian cycle. He announces that he’s going to take some outrageous action. The media and the opposition make a gob of noise over it and, after a bit, he moves on to the next outrage never to return to the current one. What Longwell noticed in her focus groups is that Trump supporters believe that he actually carried through with what he said he’d do instead of understanding he’d moved on to something new. They believe him because of the reaction from the opposition and press. With each cycle, he builds normalcy for greater outrage and a launch pad for actual action. Trump’s built a “folk”.
I have, for quite a long time, referred to this as the “John Starks Theory of Modern Life”. Starks, a basketball guard of middling talent, would always do something stupid in the first half of the game; then, in the second half, he’d do something so incredibly stupider, that you forgot the first one and the circumstances surrounding it. As long as Trump and his minions have a new(er) outrage to commit, they will continue on that path until the country/team cuts them.
While Trump struts about, acting like our scorned, abusive lover, taken back because we can’t live without him, we are sucked into the shrunken world of Trumpology. There is a macro frame on our predicament that we ignore at our peril. Voters, inexplicably enraged by the state of an economy touted as one of the best in history, told us something, again, that we can’t hear because it is easier to cope with the burning down of our politics than face a root cause that challenges even deeper assumptions about the American enterprise. The concentration of wealth in this country surpassed the tipping point into unpredictable and chaotic societal instability sometime after 2008.
So far, the most noticeable expressions of instability have confined themselves mainly to the political (with significant leakage into the culture at large), elections seesawing between the parties every two years, succor for the aggrieved nowhere to be found. The shrinking of the middle class surfaced as an explicit issue in the most recent election, but it was treated as just another complaint to be deflected or manipulated for political advantage. The real import of the underlying problem resides beyond the bandwidth of the coming Trumpist regime of oligarchs and billionaires and, sadly, of the Democratic party as well. Trump has two years to abolish or neuter elections, but there may be a time limit on how long the effects of instability will remain within political guardrails anyway.
Excellent piece and spot-on correct, i.e., like many others, Trump was raised in an authoritarian household. His father was the authoritarian dictator of the Trump family.
Unlike many, however, Trump’s father had his own business, and ran it like an authoritarian dictator, too. Many US businesses, unfortunately, operate that way.
Consequently, Trump has only known life from an authoritarian dictator perspective.
So, it’s natural for Trump to want to be the authoritarian dictator of the US.
A lot of people in the US also covet being the authoritarian dictator of the US.
These people, however, lack the resources and the connections to ever put themselves into the position of being the authoritarian dictator of the US.
So, they do the next best thing and that is voting for and supporting Trump on his quest to become dictator.
In a peculiar way, they live through Trump, similar to how avid US football fans live through a given team or a given player on the field.
As is well known, Trump plays victim whenever he feels attacked or is caught committing acts against others. This is a tactic he learned and used as a child and as an adult working for his father.
Trump felt ABC attacked him, so he plays victim while using his resources to sue them at the same time. Same situation for the Des Moines reporter now. And Trump’s avid fans are rooting for him to win.
Trump and most notably, his attorneys, would like the SCOTUS to reverse their 1964 First Amendment ruling in the NYTimes vs. Sullivan case and make it easier for Trump to sue the press.
Of course, the byproduct of such a reversal would play right into the hands of an authoritarian dictator like Trump.
“A lot of people in the US also covet being the authoritarian dictator of the US.
These people, however, lack the resources and the connections to ever put themselves into the position of being the authoritarian dictator of the US.
So, they do the next best thing and that is voting for and supporting Trump on his quest to become dictator.
In a peculiar way, they live through Trump, similar to how avid US football fans live through a given team or a given player on the field.
As is well known, Trump plays victim whenever he feels attacked or is caught committing acts against others.“
This is exactly the point Erick Fromm makes in what is the most persuasive explanation of the MAGA phenomenon I’ve read, despite it having been written in 1940, Escape from Freedom. The symbiotic weakness of leader and followers forms a bond where each gain essential strength from the other. They’re mutually dependent, and the bond can only be broken by showing the leader’s weakness in a way that the followers accept as true. Once the followers no longer feel powerful through him, they’ll turn from him in revulsion. But until then, they will cling to him at all costs bc it’s only through him that they can feel powerful (aka “own the libs”). In turn, leader is equally dependent on the followers to feel strong (thus the need for Trump to regularly hold rallies to feed off the adoration of his followers).
Unfortunately, we haven’t yet found the magic truth bullet that will to pierce the disinfo and conspiracy theory bubble the followers live in, largely bc they actively work in concert with Trump to defend their worldview. They are active participants in the charade too.
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Americans are addicted to winning the easy way: magic bullets, a single home run, one powerful move or play, the overnight success. Context, background, experience, organization and effort are elided from the headline. There are no magic bullets that can take the place of concerted effort.
The thing Trump claims that he is trying to get even with is called reality.
Would it be silly of me to blame the overuse of the montage in movies to represent “work”? Probably.
Addiction seems to be the business plan of late stage capitalism. For example, Purdue Pharma. When Society Becomes an Addict and The Addictive Organization by Anne Wilson Schaef helped me understand and deal with a good friend who was an active alcoholic as well as explaining a lot about USAmerican society.
As for the “easy way,” the last thing I heard the great Elinor Ostrom, the premier scholar of the commons and community, say, loudly, was “No panaceas! No panaceas!” as we left a luncheon conversation with her at Tufts a few years before she died.
In reply to Sussex—
DARVO comes to mind:
also, too, Roy Cohn’s rules for trump:
1. attack, attack, attack
2. admit nothing, deny everything
3. no matter what happens you claim victory, and never admit defeat
4. you must be willing to do anything to anyone to win
For me, this post also brings to mind that compilation of documents found in Trump’s office at Mar-a-Lago, which involved a pollster, book author, and religious leader (which I happen to think might also relate to Mike Huckabee being nominated as ambassador to Israel.)
In any event, Trump has spent a lifetime using language to rile people in order to achieve status, control, and position. The survey below shows who may be most susceptible to this. I have no doubt that he has been aware of this means of manipulation for years, if not decades.
“Survey: Four in Ten Americans Are Susceptible to Authoritarianism, But Most Still Reject Political Violence” – 09.10.2024
https://www.prri.org/press-release/survey-four-in-ten-americans-are-susceptible-to-authoritarianism-but-most-still-reject-political-violence/
Excellent and interesting survey you linked.
Thank you!
Excerpt:
“Among Americans who are Christian nationalism Adherents or Sympathizers, three-quarters (74%) score high on the Right-Wing Authoritarianism Scale (RWAS).”
Yup, that confirms my impressions.
Trump is a serial abuser of the judicial process, and just like every other institution in this country, the judiciary has failed to hold him accountable. The courts treat every new lawsuit as if it had merit on its own terms, and when it proves to be packed with lies and stupid legal reasoning, they simply dismiss the cases. Even good judges refuse to impose sanctions adequate to stop this judicial terrorism.
A judge with any self-respect would sanction the bloody hell out of Trump and his shithead lawyers. Awarding costs and expenses to the prevailing party is nothing compared with the legal bill the defendants run up. Rule 11 and equitable principles support a vastly more aggressive sanctions regime. Trump may be able to handle the sanctions, but disbarment and hefty financial penalties will deter most self-protective attorneys.
Sadly we don’t have judges with self-respect, or respect for the institutions they serve. Instead we have lickspittle ringkissers, especially the Trump Protection Squad on SCOTUS.
We also have supine bar associations, who refuse to sanction their own members who file those suits laden with lies and illogical reasoning. “I was just following my client’s wishes” does not absolve a lawyer from their obligations to the bar — but if the bar refuses to hear the complaint, or waves it all away, the lawyers will continue on as before.
Outstanding point and big problem in my opinion!
Truth vs. free speech. Trump uses whichever frame benefits him.
Trump frames attacks on his lies as an attack on his free speech.
Trump frames others’ true free speech about him as lies and “defamation.”
“The demon is a liar. He will lie to confuse us; but he will also mix lies with the truth to attack us. His attack is psychological, Damien. And powerful.”
–Father Merrin in The Exorcist
OT:
re Trump suing Des Moines Register over incorrect prediction,
Can I sue Trump for his incorrect prediction?
Donald J. Trump
realdonaldtrump
The Dow Jones Industrial just closed above 29,000! You are so lucky to have me as your President With Joe Hiden’ it would crash
Sep 2nd 2020 – 4:05:43 PM
The person is a malignant narcissist. Any criticism, no matter how accurate or relevant, is “injurious” to his ego. His authoritarian impulses are in service to his narcissism, to prevent or to refute criticism.
That’s not to say that his impulses aren’t dangerous because he has attracted more than a few “true believers” in American monarchy, including would-be kingmakers such as Peter Thiel.
I see retribution as personal and authoritarianism as systemic. Trump is 78, has a terrible diet, doesn’t exercise, and looks as though he’s in gawdawful shape. I don’t approve of Nikki Haley’s campaign tactic of pointing at Biden and saying “that guy will be dead in four years.” It’s gauche at best. But, in Trump’s case, can we count on him being alive in 2028? If he’s pursuing retribution, his death ends the problem. If he’s setting up an authoritarian system, others can take up the cause. Vance may not have the charisma of Trump (did I just use charisma and Trump in the same sentence–ugh!), but he’s smarter and just as opportunistic. Anything Trump and the media normalize becomes a starting point for Vance.
I tend to agree he might not make it through four years and with the Dow losing 1,100 points today, and in a general funk since Thanksgiving, the pressure of actually delivering on any of his tariff and deportation promises may be more difficult after we go into a recession. But I’m not holding my breath. Eventually Vance will take over and agree he might be smarter but just doesn’t have the same juice for the cultists and shouldn’t elicit the same fear from everyone else. No matter what, the press has to wake up to their complicity in all of this or even someone as weak as Vance can keep this thing going beyond the setting of the orange sun. Posts like this really drill home how we each play a part in this if we let these douche bags redefine truth, words and meaning – or we do it for them.
A general funk, illustrated.
Let’s keep in mind the stock market =/= economy. Many businesses that will be damaged by Trump’s intention to deport all undocumented persons and institute tariffs on all imported goods are not listed on any index and not publicly traded.
Good point.
One of Trump’s secondary authoritarian goals in filing lawsuits is to make others reluctant to publish truth to power.
What would be the right word instead of “retribution”? Aggression, maybe? It needs to be something that includes bullying, intention, plan, force or violence, targeting. Not easy to find. That may be why retribution is used so often. Except that it’s the wrong word, it does include some of all those elements.
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Lawfare?
Aggression fits just fine. It fits your laundry list, fits being the one to start the fight, fits with lying about that, and the additional lie that Trump is acting in self-defense. Trump imagining he was the first one harmed is itself a lie designed to distract from his being the aggressor.
Retribution requires acting in response to a previous harm, not an imagined one, in a way proportional to the original harm. Acting in response to an imaginary harm, creates imaginary – false – retribution. But if you’re a good enough liar, it’s a good way to persuade those actually harmed by a rigged economic system to feel kinship with a con man. Trump is an expert liar.
Marcy,
Trump’s authoritarianism, unrestrained and overindulged. Intellectually Marcy has laid out the cobble stones of evidence of Trump’s, authoritarian spree which any reader can follow to avoid getting caught in Trump’s rhetorical cesspools of alleged grievance. Reading emptywheel.net is like using hand sanitizer, only for your brain. Easy to use, fast drying, helps break the chain of infectious causation of authoritarianism’s dis/misinformation.
One of the creepiest movies I’ve ever seen is the Japanese film about a serial killer “Vengeance Is Mine.”
Hmmm, wonder why that comes to mind.
Uber joins the Spineless Brigade, and of course there are Ds advising to ‘work with’ the GOP not understanding that the GOP has to have policies first. While some of these corporate bozos will claim with minimal validity I’d also bet that more than a few of them were plenty aggressive while climbing their corporate ladders.
All of us military personnel understood there would be times when you put your bars on the line to make the right decision. It’s part of being in charge.
‘”…claim with minimal validity they had to protect their company and shareholders…”
Sorry about that.
This reminds me of the “collusion” fiasco where argument over definitions distracted totally from the actions taken.
That reminds me of the fiasco, where people were purposely confused through propaganda about the import of a) denials about a non-crime, collusion, and b) non-denials about a crime, conspiracy.
The usual MAGAt media pundits and politicians like to claim Musk and Trump are successful businessmen. They do this as some kind of justification to disguise all kinds of reprehensible behavior.
Hypocritically, they consistently fail to note Trump’s and Musk’s failures and dependence on (or exploitation of) banks and/or government to bail them out. They also fail to note their unfair and/or unlawful business practices.
I think Trump uses the word “retribution” as a political ploy to stir up a particular demographic. And, as you say, “retaliation” is a synonym for that. But in the larger picture, “retaliation” already has it’s own history in government as part of labor law.
So, it might be worth a try to talk about Trump’s and Musk’s language as harassment. They will soon be at the top of a federal employment hierarchy. After all, there is ample evidence that Trump was called “boss” during his previous tenure at the top.
So, in that light, what Trump and Musk (and others) are doing is legally known as harassment and retaliation. There are ample explanations and examples to be found throughout government. But I found this one from DOI to be helpful:
“Discrimination, Harassment, Harassing Conduct, and Retaliation Defined | U.S. Department of the Interior”
“Retaliation
Taking an action that might deter a reasonable person from participating in activity protected by antidiscrimination and/or whistleblower laws. Protected activity includes: complaining about discriminatory or harassing behavior; disclosing/reporting violations of law, rule or procedure or fraud, waste or abuse; and participating in discrimination or whistleblower proceedings (such as an investigation or lawsuit). Retaliatory actions are not limited to formal personnel actions such as termination, demotion, non-promotion, or non-selection. Retaliatory actions are broadly defined to harassing behavior, significant changes to job duties or working conditions, and even threats to take personnel actions. Retaliation against employees who engage in protected activities under Personnel Bulletin 18-01 is also prohibited by that policy.”
https://www.doi.gov/employees/anti-harassment/definitions
Adding:
“Anti-Trump forces build a network to aid potential political targets of the incoming administration” – 12/19/24
“The specialists would offer legal, financial, public relations and even mental health assistance to people who need the services, at no charge.”
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/anti-trump-forces-network-aid-targets-incoming-administration-rcna184791