Carrie Johnson

And it's also just not the wing of the Democratic Party that politically you would think the Republicans would want to highlight.

I mean, it seems like retribution is a major theme now in Trump's second term.

And that's come into fruition now.

You know, it's really become a sort of political platform in the second term, fuel for conservative grievance.

He's gone after any number of perceived political enemies, whether it's former officials who've spoken out against him, journalists, universities, law firms, you name it.

Well, I mean, Trump trying to centralize power and finding out what the guardrails are is something that I always thought might define the second term.

And those are really being determined now, mostly by the courts.

You know, politics can also provide some guardrails.

You know, if something's unpopular, politicians usually try and dial it back.

We saw that in Trump's first term with child separation policies, but it's not really Trump's style.

And obviously here in the second term with him term limited, it wouldn't be surprising to see him be even more unrestrained politically.

especially if he thinks that Republicans are going to lose the House this year anyway.

Just the mere fact that they've initiated this, that you have to get a lawyer, you have to come up with a strategy, you have to have these conversations, is the point, right?

The intimidation is the point.

Definitely.

Virtually everything that's happened over the past week could have been predicted on inauguration day.

President Trump returned to the White House promising to investigate his perceived political enemies.

And after the election, people were worried about DOJ, but changes there have been more sweeping and more quick than many of them feared.

The Supreme Court in the immunity case made clear President Trump and future presidents are largely immune from prosecution for their official actions in office.

And so this is an aggressive Justice Department under Trump's full command, really the culmination of statements he made on the campaign trail.