Donald Trump

Jacob Sullum | 11.6.2024 9:30 AM

"If there is an advantage to electing a preening, petty, thin-skinned, whiny, vindictive, vacuous, mendacious, boorish bully" to the White House, I wrote in November 2016, "it may be that he prompts a reconsideration of the absurd hopes and cultish veneration that surround the presidency." I suggested that "a ridiculous president will encourage Americans to take the presidency less seriously."

That did not quite work out as I hoped. Although Trump was predictably ridiculous as president, the comedy turned to tragedy by the end of his term, when rioters outraged by his stolen-election fantasy stormed the U.S. Capitol, interrupting the congressional ratification of Joe Biden's victory. To this day, Trump insists, against all evidence, that he actually won reelection in 2020. The voters who returned him to office this week either agree with him or think it does not really matter whether the president is dishonest or deluded enough to stick with that preposterous story four years later.

In addition to his claim that systematic election fraud deprived him of his rightful victory in 2020, Trump has accumulated many other grievances in the last eight years. The question now is whether and how he will use the powers of the presidency to act on his grudges. Trump has pitched various ideas that should worry libertarians, including broad, heavy tariffs and mass deportation of unauthorized U.S. residents. But his authoritarian impulses, exemplified by his repeatedly expressed desire to punish his political opponents once he is back in power, should trouble everyone who values civil liberties and the rule of law.

Trump is still angry at the Democratic operatives who supposedly helped install an illegitimate president. "If we win, and when we win, we're gonna prosecute people that cheat on this election," he said in September. "And if we can, we'll go back to the last one too." Given all the wild fraud allegations that Trump embraced in 2020, who knows what that means?

Trump is angry at Biden, whom he blames not only for stealing an election but also for instigating two federal indictments against him. Trump has repeatedly vowed to investigate Biden for alleged corruption. "I will appoint a real special prosecutor to go after the most corrupt president........

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