Former President Donald Trump is taking heat in the mainstream media for saying that he would take action against domestic “enemies from within,” including through the military, if necessary.
Democrats are pretending to be shocked — but they should not be. They used the military to encircle the Capitol in 2021, and have prosecuted Trump and his political supporters for various charges — all in defense of democracy, they have argued.
The spin on Trump’s comments, to quote Vice President Kamala Harris, is that he intends to use the Department of Justice “as a weapon against his political enemies,” and that he will pursue “journalists, judges, [and] others” as well.
Some have even suggested, absurdly, that Trump, who has survived two assassination attempts, plans to “execute” his political rivals. Of course he will not.
But there are some threats to democracy that Trump should, in fact, confront.
The first are networks of activists who use political violence.
Radical left-wing groups — with the backing of at least some elected Democrats — rioted against the incoming Trump administration in 2017, and organized a wave of unrest in 2020 that saw riots erupt in 48 out of 50 major American cities. Even Democrats called out the National Guard in some places.
If radicals use violence again to try to prevent Trump from governing, they should be investigated and punished. And the government needs to do a better job of deterring them.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has never properly investigated Antifa and left-wing groups like it. And the Department of Justice, under President Joe Biden has — inexcusably — shown no enthusiasm at all for finding out who is behind a wave of antisemitic violence, or punishing groups that violate the civil rights of Jews. They, and their funders, should be exposed and prosecuted.
Second, there is a vast array of prosecutors and politicians who have abused their powers to target Trump and his supporters.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA) lied to the public about sensitive intelligence information, spinning the “Russia collusion” hoax; and he violated the civil rights of witnesses and even his colleagues in the first impeachment investigation. Yet he is about to be promoted to Senator in California. He ought to be investigated.
Likewise Schiff’s fellow members on the January 6 Committee, a one-sided show trial that Democrats used in an attempt to smear Trump.
The committee violated basic principles of due process and smeared the witnesses, while hiding behind parliamentary privilege. More seriously, the committee destroyed video and documentary evidence rather than preserving it. In so doing, they violated the civil rights of Trump and other January 6 defendants.
Third, there are the left-wing organizations that have abused tax-exempt status for decades while acting as agents of the Democratic Party.
Media Matters, for example — which exists not to correct errors in conservative media, but rather to cancel and censor conservative voices — has no business operating as a 501(c)3 “charity.”
There are also many groups that joined a “shadow campaign” to ensure Trump could not win in 2020. They need to be exposed.
This is not a matter of suppressing ordinary political opposition, or tit-for-tat retribution. The fact is that the far-left — well-funded, well-organized, and well-protected — poses a threat to American constitutional democracy. They need to be investigated, and punished where necessary, but most of all they need to be stopped.
That is why Trump is right — provided he himself does not exceed the limits of his constitutional authority, as his opponents have arguably done.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of The Agenda: What Trump Should Do in His First 100 Days, available for pre-order on Amazon. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.