Kathrine Frich
Trump said he could have don “very bad things” to both of them.
Political power comes with unwritten rules about treating predecessors.
For decades, presidents have avoided using their authority to punish the opposition.
But the current president says he actively chose to hold back, and his latest comments are raising fresh alarms.
Holding back
Donald Trump hosted a gathering in the Oval Office on Wednesday. When a reporter asked if Democrats might try to impeach him again if they win back Congress, the conversation quickly shifted.
Instead of offering a simple prediction, Trump flipped the question to discuss what he could have done to his own political rivals.
“I could have done very bad things to Hillary Clinton. I could have done very, very bad things to Joe Biden. I could have done very bad things to Barack Hussein Obama,” Trump told the room, according to HuffPost.
He claimed he chose not to retaliate because he viewed the presidency “as a very sacred position.” A leader must treat the highest office with respect, he explained, which stopped him from pursuing the three Democratic figures.
Whatever I want
The president then took a darker turn. Despite claiming to honour the boundaries of his power, he quickly reminded the audience that those limits are entirely voluntary.
“I can do whatever I want if I want,” he said during the event.
Trump justified his lingering anger by claiming his opponents had crossed the line first. “They’ve done some very bad things,” he added.
The looming midterm elections are weighing heavily on the Republican leader. He was impeached twice during his first term. Now, he warns that Democrats will absolutely launch another effort to remove him if they take control of Congress this autumn.
Other targets
House Speaker Mike Johnson has echoed those exact fears. The top Republican stated that another impeachment is all but “guaranteed” if the party loses its current majority.
Trump insists he spared Clinton, Obama, and Biden. Yet his administration has clearly targeted other political adversaries in recent years. Over the past several months, the Justice Department has actively pursued numerous outspoken critics.
Former FBI Director James Comey faces a trial next January over an online post that allegedly threatened the president. Federal prosecutors have also launched investigations into California Governor Gavin Newsom, former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, and the former special counsel Jack Smith, HuffPost reported.
