Screenshot/Fox News / Iowa Town Hall
Trump appeared on Fox News' Iowa town hall to discuss his campaign. Fox moderator Bret Baier questioned the former president about his previous comments about retribution, asking Trump how much of a potential term would be "looking forward."
"So there are questions about how much a second term of a Donald Trump presidency - second term - would be about retribution and looking backwards and grievances and how much would be looking forward?" Baier asked.
Trump responded by stating that while "a lot of people" would not look down on a punishment due to a slew of previous "hoaxes" against the former president, the second term Trump administration would not "have time for retribution."
Trump continued to note that the "ultimate retribution" in his view "is success," causing the audience to cheer on the former president.
"Well, first of all, a lot of people would say that that's not so bad, look what they did - Russia, Russia Russia hoax, the FBI/Twitter hoax, the 51 intelligence agents hoax, all of these different hoaxes that they did," Trump stated.
"A lot of people would say, that's probably quite normal. I'm not going to have time for retribution. We're going to make this country so successful again, I'm not gonna have time for retribution. And remember this, our ultimate retribution is success."
On the campaign trail in 2023, the former president made multiple comments regarding retribution against opponents during his first term that sought to take him down, according to the Washington Post. In one instance, Trump was heard telling supporters during a July 2023 rally that voters should see him as "your retribution," ABC News reported.
The former president had stated that he would be looking to go after part of the federal government, including the Department of Justice, as well as the Biden family, in order to "totally obliterate the deep state," according to ABC News.
Trump has previously stated his opposition towards the Department of Justice and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton due to their ongoing allegation of tying the former president to Russia collusion.
In the case of "retribution" where you have most of the government is corrupt, including the FBI, CIA, military, judicial courts and Congress what do you do? Can you remove all of them? How do you get some of them to become "whistle blowers" or change their position?
As I have noted before, Lincoln was a pragmatist. This means he had a moral compass and he realized the political playing field that he operated in. He appointed his opponents to the Cabinet, and some he influenced to change positions. However, some one like the Secretary of War, Stanton, would say of Lincoln "he is a big ape". Stanton would have become president if all of the assassinations in 1965 had occurred. What am I saying? We have a web of power and corruption throughout the Western governments.