It’s always been weird the way Democrats and the dying news media refer to President Trump’s plans for “retribution,” both before and after he was elected. It’s like they never bothered to look up the word.
Merriam-Webster defines it as “the act or an instance of responding to an injury with an injury.” More fittingly, Dictionary.com has it as “requital according to merits or deserts, especially for evil.” In other words, repayment.
After news broke Thursday that former FBI Director James Comey, who was fired by Trump in his first term, was indicted on charges related to lying to Congress under oath, the “retribution” line was back on repeat.
New York Times: “Trump Gets the Retribution He Sought …”
Associated Press: “Trump escalates retribution campaign …”
PBS: “… as he ramps up retribution campaign.”
Every news article and cable news segment on the topic is naturally accompanied by a Democrat who ominously declares Trump an “authoritarian” who has “weaponized the Justice Department.” (Imagine a president using the Justice Department to prosecute his opponents.)
Sure thing. But what the president’s supporters should have to say about “retribution” is — you’re damn right. Comey, a proud Taylor Swift fangirl, is a proven liar who maliciously manipulated the public by making classified leaks to the media in order to make Trump, his former boss, look bad. Criminal, even.
To the extent that the president is guided by anything personal in his administration holding criminals and otherwise corrupt individuals to account, whatever. Those people endlessly investigated him over fake accusations he was a Russian agent, had him impeached, almost bankrupted him, tried to put him in prison, and, ultimately, got him shot. I’d say he’s earned the right, and not just because voters granted him the power to do it.
Speaking of the voters, Trump told them in advance, “I am your retribution.” And they elected him. There should be no mistake that the scores to settle are not his alone. They are for the millions of people who supported him and who almost saw the third election in a row stolen from them.
The first one was effectively stolen after 2016, when the entire Washington bureaucracy worked to thwart the agenda Trump was elected to enact, by way of character assassination and then an attempt to remove him from office. The second one was hijacked by Covid hysteria, with Democrats and the dying media laying every single death caused by a highly contagious, airborne virus at one man’s feet, plus violent race riots threatening to burn down entire cities if Democrats didn’t get their way. The third one — well, you saw what happened.
Now Trump’s voters finally have a chance to see things set right. This is what it looks like.
Eddie Scarry is the D.C. columnist at The Federalist and author of "Traitors: The Democrat Party’s Collapse into Anti-American Filth."