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Trump’s Enemies Will Be Heroes

Sheila Markin

JAMES COMEY INDICTED

New York Times reports:

A federal grand jury on Thursday indicted James B. Comey, the former F.B.I. director, a culmination of President Trump’s relentless demand for retribution after the bureau investigated his 2016 presidential campaign over possible ties to Russia.

Mr. Comey was indicted on one count of making a false statement and one count of obstruction of a congressional proceeding in connection with his testimony before a Senate committee in September 2020.

The indictment, filed in Alexandria, Va., came over the objection of career prosecutors in the Eastern District of Virginia who found insufficient evidence to support charges but were overruled by Lindsey Halligan, a Trump loyalist handpicked by the president to run the office a few days ago.

It represents the most significant legal step yet by the Trump administration to harry, punish and humiliate a former official the president identified as an enemy.

WHAT IS NEEDED FOR A GRAND JURY TO INDICT

For a grand jury indictment, the prosecutor must present enough evidence to convince a majority of the grand jurors that there is probable cause (a reasonable basis) to believe a crime was committed and the accused person committed it. At least 12 out of 16 to 23 jurors must vote to find probable cause to issue the indictment, which formally charges the person and requires a prosecutor to sign it before they can be prosecuted. 

  • Signed Indictment: 
    After the grand jury’s vote, the prosecutor prepares a written indictment, and the grand jury’s foreperson signs it. The prosecutor must then sign the indictment for a person to be charged and prosecuted. 

AN INDICTMENT ONLY STOOGES WOULD PERSUE

Trump demanded an indictment of Comey after Erik Siebert, the US Attorney he appointed to run the Eastern District of Virginia US Attorney’s Office, refused to do it because there was insufficient evidence. That US Attorney quit rather than sully his reputation.

Trump had to dredge up a former beauty pageant contestant who went to law school and then worked for a small law firm handling low level cases that usually pled out to do his bidding: her name is Lindsay Halligan. Before this assignment she was weeding out “woke” verbiage at the Smithsonian. She is not trained as a criminal prosecutor and has never litigated a case in court before. To please Trump she took this appointment as the new US Attorney of this office and presented evidence to the Grand Jury. There are 300 Assistant US Attorneys in the Eastern District of Virginia.  No other prosecutor in that office was willing to attach his or her name to this stinkin indictment.

Given that Lindsay Halligan was never trained to present evidence to a grand jury and was not accompanied into the grand jury room by anyone with that training, you have to wonder if she might have presented impermissible evidence to get the grand jury to indict. (There is a report just today that Halligan introduced false evidence to get the grand jury to indict. “The indictment appears to attribute to Comey words he never uttered. In answering Sen. Ted Cruz (at a Senate hearing), Comey said he stood by his 2017 testimony. He did not say in the 2020 hearing that he had not ‘authorized someone else at the FBI to be an anonymous source in news reports.’”)

Given that Trump has thumbed his nose at constitutional law, I would not be surprised if Halligan was encouraged to disregard the law in her presentation to the grand jury to get them to indict Comey. If she did violate the rules and laws governing grand juries, Comey’s lawyers will have grounds to argue that the judge dismiss this case outright. They seem to have good facts to argue selective prosecution given Trump’s very clear insistence that Comey be prosecuted, the US Attorney resigned over his unwillingness to indict on this set of facts, there is a declination memo that reviews the facts of the case and the reasons for declining prosecution, Halligan, a novice, was the prosecutor and no other US attorney in the office was willing to sign the indictment. Halligan also risks losing her law license as has happened to other lawyers who do Trump’s dirty work.

WHAT IS TRUMP UP TO? INSTILLING FEAR

James Comey, who headed the FBI at the time of the presidential campaign of 2016, helped Trump win his first election as president by publicly announcing that Hillary Clinton’s emails had been investigated by the FBI.  Comey announced this right before the voters went to the polls. He broke with tradition by making that announcement too close to the election. That announcement by Comey sullied Hillary Clinton and was part of the reason she lost that presidential election to Donald Trump.

Once Trump was in office he had an intimate meeting over dinner with Comey in which he asked Comey to be his bitch. He wanted Comey to do HIS bidding, be loyal to HIM, instead of following constitutional law. Comey refused. That foreshadowed what has come to pass now in Trump’s second term as president with Pam Bondi and Kash Patel installed as Trump’s stooges who will slavishly do his bidding.

Trump is a vengeful man. He told his followers that he would get revenge if he got re-elected. He is doing that now. So, who and what are on Trump’s enemies list?

  • James Comey: The former FBI director, fired by Trump in 2017, was indicted in September 2025 by the Justice Department, which had reportedly been pressured by Trump.
  • Christopher Krebs: Fired by Trump in 2020 after contradicting his false claims of election fraud, the former director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency is now the subject of a federal probe.
  • Dr. Anthony Fauci: The former top health official in the government’s COVID-19 response had his government protection stripped away. Trump reportedly dismissed safety concerns, stating Fauci “can hire his own security”.
  • John Bolton: Federal agents searched the home and office of the former National Security Adviser in August 2025. Bolton has long been a vocal critic of Trump.
  • Miles Taylor: In April 2025, Trump ordered the Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security to investigate Taylor, a former Homeland Security official who anonymously published a critical book about the Trump administration.
  • General Mark Milley: The former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is reportedly under investigation by the Defense Department. Trump has previously accused Milley of treason.
  • Letitia James: The New York Attorney General, whose office successfully sued Trump for fraud in 2024, has been a frequent target of Trump, who has suggested she should be arrested.
  • Adam Schiff: In September 2025, Trump publicly pressured Attorney General Pam Bondi to charge Schiff, a former representative who led Trump’s first impeachment, with a crime.
  • George Soros and Reid Hoffman: Both prominent donors to the Democratic Party, they were publicly named by Trump as financiers of “left-wing terrorism” and potential targets for investigation.
  • Lisa Cook: The Federal Reserve governor has been targeted by Trump for her role in monetary policy.
  • Chris Christie: Trump has threatened to investigate the former New Jersey governor over a past political scandal. 
  • Fani Willis: Georgia district attorney who charged President Trump in a sweeping election interference case.
Organizations and institutions
  • Law firms: The Trump administration has targeted numerous law firms that have worked against him, including revoking security clearances and barring access to government buildings. The law firms Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison and Jenner & Block have been among those targeted.
  • Media organizations: The administration has pursued lawsuits against media organizations, including Media Matters for America (a watchdog group that tracks disinformation on the web). One news outlet settled a suit with Trump for millions of dollars.
  • Progressive nonprofits: Trump has ordered a federal crackdown on “domestic terrorism networks,” which appears to be aimed at left-leaning nonprofit groups, citing a need to disrupt financial networks and falsely claiming they fund political violence.
  • Elite universities: Trump has pulled billions of dollars in federal research funds from elite universities.
  • NPR and PBS: The administration initiated an investigation into these public broadcasting stations for alleged violations of sponsorship advertising rules. 

THIS IS ABOUT CONTROL, POWER, AND FEAR

Trump and the MAGAs are rushing to cement Trump’s dictatorship.

If the Dems ever regain control of the House again, Trump will face investigation and indictment for the shocking and massive corruption he has been engaging in.  Trump and the Republicans who have control of state houses will do anything at all, ANYTHING!! to retain control of the House in 2026.

Here is what’s coming in our midterm elections:

  1. They will station the military at polling places where Democrats vote, namely, in the cities. This will discourage Black and Hispanic voters from showing up and create fear.
  2. There are re-gerrymandering the already gerrymandered districts in states where the Republicans have a trifecta– control of both state houses and the governorship. Texas is just the first state. Florida is likely to be next. There are other Republican led states that could jump on that bandwagon. (There could be a problem with re-gerrymandering for the GOP, however.  As you spread the jam really thin you can risk losing in formerly safe districts if there is a blue wave in 2026.)
  3. There will be bogus claims of voter fraud after the election. Mike Johnson, Speaker of the House, will order a committee full of MAGAs like the Committee on House Administration to investigate these bogus claims and (surprise! surprise!) come up with bogus findings of fraud. Johnson would then push for a full House vote to seat the Republicans who claimed they won using this language from the Constitution: “Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections. Returns and Qualifications of its own Members.” This would happen if there is a close election. If there is a landslide election it will be harder for Johnson to claim the election is contested. In short, the Dems will need LANDSLIDE elections in battleground states for 2026 if they hope to regain the House.

By pursuing his enemies and failing to meet the needs of working Americans, including his own base, Trump could be setting himself up for a blue wave election in 2026. Much depends on whether Trump can instill enough fear in Americans to get them to shut up and stay home instead of voting. Or whether Americans will be so angry at Trump and the MAGAs for taking away what they need for their families to survive and thrive that they will rise up and vote against Trump and the MAGAs because they realize their lives depend on it.

WILL TRUMP’S VENGEANCE BACKFIRE?

Trump may think that pursuing his enemies is a good idea, but like a lot of things Trump thinks are good ideas that are not, they can come back to bite him. The backlash to Trump is real and growing.

Trump is trying to generate fear to prevent people from dissenting, speaking out or opposing him. Fear does not lead to love. Fear leads to anger and backlash instead. Just as Jimmy Kimmel Live! getting back on the air created a massive leap in Kimmel’s ratings (he got three times the viewership for his show– 6.2 million viewers and over 12 million views on You Tube), Trump’s attacks on his enemies have the potential to create heroes and martyrs for a cultural movement that is evolving and could overpower Trump and the “MAGAverse” if it takes hold.

Trump is not liked by the American people. His ratings are sinking.

Most recent Trump approval rating, according to the latest Quinnipiac University poll (Sept. 24, 2025):

  • Favorable: 38%
  • Unfavorable: 54%
  • Unsure: 8%

Other polls such as the Gallup poll and The Economist and others are showing similar sinking numbers for Trump.

WHAT TRUMP RISKS

By pursuing his enemies, Trump risks losing not only the House but the Senate as well- maybe just by one vote, but the majority is the majority. He is also creating heroes and heroines for a counter cultural movement that has the potential to rise up to rebuke him and his administration as his policies create chaos and hurt working Americans.

  • Tariffs hit consumers’ pocketbooks, the farm industry is ruined and stagflation develops.
  • The Big Bad Bill hits health care and the ability of American workers to get ahead.
  • Expelling immigrants cripples multiple industries- farming, construction, home health care and more because there are not enough workers to do the jobs. ICE’s brutality creates heroes and heroines who stand up to repressive government.
  • RFK Jr. deconstructs vaccines and throws junk science at the American people leading to unnecessary deaths. More martyrs.

Meanwhile Trump rambles on and on, often incoherently– an angry demented old man at the United Nations who tells other nations they are “going to hell” and rants about an escalator that stalled out forcing him and Melania to walk up the stairs and a teleprompter that didn’t work, forcing Trump to deliver his remarks from his notes, and a sound system he claimed did not work when HE was speaking (the sound system was no different for him than it was for other heads of state).

WHAT TO DO ABOUT THIS MESS

If you don’t like what is going on in our country, get engaged in helping other Americans know the truth about which political party is on their side. You can do this by canvassing, writing post cards, supporting Democrats running for the state legislature, supporting Democratic governors, secretaries of state, and attorneys general, writing letters to the editor, joining Indivisible, peacefully protesting, and sharing posts on social media that will help others understand what is going on. You can talk with everyone about politics. Don’t be afraid to ask your Uber driver how he is feeling about the tariffs and how your friends and family are managing their health care. Help other Americans understand which political party is helping Trump cement his dictatorship, a corrupt man who helps billionaires not working Americans and who will do anything he can to stay in power.

 

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