During Tuesday night’s Town Hall meeting in South Carolina, former President Donald Trump told voters, “My revenge will be my success.” The statement was made to answer an audience member’s question about fears of political retribution during his second term in office. After highlighting the successes of his first term, he closed his remarks with the impactful promise.
The comment comes amid a nearly three-month-long media fallout over remarks made in December during an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity concerning whether or not he would abuse his power while in office to punish his enemies.
Hannity asked the former president, “You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?” Trump then replied in what has been interpreted by most as possibly a joking fashion, saying “No, no, no, other than day one. We’re closing the border, and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.” Though he clearly pointed to protecting Americans from immigration and halting Biden’s energy crisis, the media took this, spun it and ran with it for months, implying he meant something sinister by his clearly benign comments.
Trump has called this out as a foul, repeatedly calling it “the greatest political witch hunt of all time,” as well as accusing Democrats of election interference.
In truth, Trump’s post-presidential legal and political battles are historic, considering that he was impeached after leaving office, and in the face of questionable legality and constitutional intent that has never been settled. This alone is a unique distinction that applies to no other American president.
Trump certainly has many opponents in both the political and civil arenas, as he just recently lost a civil trial in which he was ordered to pay a fine of $350 million dollars for a bank fraud case in which there was never any victim’s complaint against him. The case was pursued by the Attorney General for the state of New York, a long-held Democrat stronghold, by a DA who ran on going after the former president.
Trump has indicated he is looking into holding rallies in New York after the ruling against him.
NEW: Donald Trump says his "revenge" will be success and goes on to suggest that he has multiple rallies planned in New York City after the $350M ruling against him.
Epic 🔥🔥
"My revenge will be success."
"I'm gonna see about Madison Square Garden and we're gonna go to the… pic.twitter.com/tOMEkd0dwU
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) February 21, 2024
In addition to the civil suits against him, Democrats have been actively seeking to prevent him from running for president again under the assumed premise of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, based upon his involvement in the Jan. 6 election fraud protests. This portion of the 14th Amendment was added over 150 years ago to prohibit ex-Confederates from holding political office.
Although swamped with political and legal challenges, polls have shown Donald Trump with competitive leads over incumbent President Joe Biden as the 2024 presidential election draws closer.
