Since 2022, Donald Trump has issued more than 100 threats to investigate, prosecute, imprison or otherwise punish his perceived opponents, according to an analysis by National Public Radio released Oct. 22.
On the same day, evangelical historian and author Kristin Du Mez warned her readers that some of Trump’s perceived enemies will be those who do not share the beliefs of his white evangelical base.
Kristin Du Mez
“Christians, your religious liberty really is at stake this election,” reads the headline on her Substack column.
“Now, we have a conservative Supreme Court majority who has just granted expansive presidential immunity, along with a Republican scheme to enhance the power of the executive to unprecedented levels, to weaponize the Department of Justice against political enemies, and to fire tens of thousands of federal employees to be replaced with right-wing political loyalists,” she wrote.
“And, we have a candidate for president who has claimed that his own political opponents are more of a threat to the country than foreign adversaries. The real threat, according to Donald Trump, are ‘the people within.’”
Du Mez cites the NPR report and explains: “What’s often lost in this litany of threats is an additional promise Trump has made to his Christian supporters.
“On multiple occasions (and included in the GOP platform), Trump has promised to set up a ‘new Federal Task Force on Fighting Anti-Christian Bias’ that will focus on ‘investigating all forms of illegal discrimination, harassment and persecution against Christians in America.’”
Trump’s plan to “aggressively defend” religious liberty “will do no such thing,” she warns.
She quotes David French, the evangelical Christian and conservative New York Times columnist who has paid a steep price for being a never-Trumper.
“As David French has recently articulated, Christians are not currently facing much in the way of persecution in this country — despite frequent claims to the contrary,” Du Mez writes.
She and French share the same kinds of experiences of being made enemies of the people by Trump supporters.
“I can attest to the ruthlessness with which Christian nationalists treat fellow Christians who get in their way,” she says. “We’re attacked with vicious lies, slander, attempts at character assassination, threats of spurious lawsuits and, for those of us who work at Christian organizations, with attempts to get us fired for speaking truth to their power.
“When you are deemed an enemy of ‘the Church’ of Christian America, of God, anything goes.”
“This time around, there is a genuine threat to religious liberty on the ballot. And the threat is aimed at Christians themselves.”
Among Trump’s threats for retribution, Christians who do not toe the party line should be concerned, Du Mez advises. “This time around, there is a genuine threat to religious liberty on the ballot. And the threat is aimed at Christians themselves.”
The NRP report highlights Trump’s escalating rhetoric on Americans he calls “the enemy from within.”
He has said local police, the National Guard and the U.S. military should be deployed against “radical left lunatics” including the media, Democrats and anyone who threatens his authority and power.
Trump has said his presidential rival, Vice President Kamala Harris, “should be impeached and prosecuted.” And he has called President Joe Biden, who defeated him in the 2020 presidential election, “the most corrupt president in the history of the United States of America.”
Trump has offered no evidence to back up any of these claims.
U.S. Rep Adam Kinzinger (R-IL) delivers remarks alongside Rep. Liz Cheney (R-WY), vice chair of the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6 Attack on the U.S. Capitol, during a hearing in the Cannon House Office Building October 13, 2022, in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Alex Wong/Getty Images)
He has called for a military tribunal against former U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney, a Republican who challenged his lies about the 2020 election and the insurrection of January 6.
He has said journalists should be imprisoned for not revealing their sources.
While all this might sound preposterous, it is not impossible, legal experts told NPR.
In fact, the Justice Department in Trump’s last administration already went after about a dozen political opponents.
One specific way Trump has said he wants to upend religious liberty is by jailing anyone who criticizes the current conservative Supreme Court, which often deals with First Amendment issues.
People who criticize the Supreme Court “should be put in jail, the way they talk about our judges and our justices,” he has said.
Would he actually do any of the things he has threatened?
“I absolutely think he will follow up on those threats. I just know that once he’s in office with no guardrails, no reason to worry about reelection, and only the most fervent, loyal people surrounding him, he will absolutely make sure his enemies pay for what he perceives to be their crimes,” Stephanie Grisham told NPR.
She worked for Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign and served as his White House press secretary but resigned after the January 6 insurrection and now would be considered by Trump and his allies as an enemy of the state.