Trump's spite agenda shows lust for revenge is undimmed

It was March 2023, and Donald Trump was in Waco, Texas – a town forever associated with the massacre and inferno that engulfed the Branch Davidian sect, resulting in 76 deaths after a lengthy stand-off with law enforcement officials. That took place exactly 30 years before Trump visited the city.

- JON SOPEL

Donald Trump that night was also in an incendiary mood. He rained down fire on his political opponents. “I am your warrior. I am your justice,” he declared. “For those who have been wronged and betrayed... I am your retribution.”

Well, you can’t say he isn’t being true to his word, as five days into his presidency his lust for retribution is undimmed. Forget revenge being a dish best served cold, Trump is serving it up piping hot – and lashings of it. It really is “promise made, promise delivered”, as politicians are wont to say.

Now, imagine for a moment you have just been sworn in as president, and the armoured Cadillac drives you back to the White House. There, national security officials will be waiting to brief you on the latest world hotspots and the covert operations that might need your approval. There will be decisions needed on domestic policy: LA fires, the southern border – and the full panoply of unpalatable choices that land with a thud on the Resolute desk, where we all know the buck stops. It must be overwhelming. Stressful. When all you want to do is start implementing the policies that will shape your presidency.

But Donald Trump had other ideas. Let us just gallop through some of the things he’s found time for in that crowded schedule. If you wanted to sing it you could do it to “The Twelve Days of Christmas” – although it wouldn’t scan that well.

On the first day of his presidency, Trump revoked the security clearance of 51 national security officials who had opined that the story of Hunter Biden’s laptop had been a classic Russian misinformation campaign. And that means they’ve effectively been fired. On the second day of his presidency, Trump announced on his platform, Truth Social, that he was “actively in the process of identifying and removing over a thousand presidential appointees from the previous administration”, in what – in effect – is a mass purge.