Donald Trump’s ‘enemies list’ and what it could means for those on it

The world is holding its breath as it comes to terms with Donald Trump having been elected the 47th President of the United States.

And according to his opponent Vice President Kamala Harris, the 78-year-old could also be set to unleash action on his ‘enemies list’.

“On day one, Donald Trump will walk into that office with an enemies list,” Harris said in a speech on 30 October.

Speaking at the White House Ellipse last Sunday, Harris said that Trump ‘intends to prosecute’ those who make his so-called ‘enemies list’; a claim she repeated in the days before the election day (5 November).

On the same day as Harris’ remarks, Trump said in a speech: “We stand on the verge of the four greatest years in American history. You watch. It’s going to be so good. It’s going to be so much fun.

“It’ll be nasty, a little bit at times and maybe at the beginning in particular. But it’s going to be something.”

The so-called enemies list has not been commented on by Trump, but it’s been drawing comparisons to plans by former president Richard Nixon in the 1970s to make life difficult for his opponents.

Trump has, though, spoken out against particular people, and action he thinks should be taken against them. Now that he’s president, who might he look at?

President Joe Biden

Joe Biden will hand over presidential power to Trump in January 2025’s inauguration. But their relationship is more than frosty.

Trump was indicted for his role in the storming of the US Capitol building on 6 January, 2021, with the president-elect claiming the 2020 presidential election was stolen from him by Biden.

Posting to social media, Trump said: “I will appoint a real special ‘prosecutor’ to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the USA, Joe Biden and the entire Biden crime family, and all others involved with the destruction of our elections, borders and country itself.”

Biden and Trump do not like each other (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Biden and Trump do not like each other (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

Sir Keir Starmer and the Labour Party

He only became UK prime minister in the summer but Sir Keir Starmer has encountered a frosty reception with Trump in the run up to the election.

Trump said that Starmer’s Labour Party had been ‘illegally interfering in the US presidential election’ as a result of a small number of volunteers flying over to the USA to campaign for the Democrats in their own time. It saw him describe Labour as ‘far left’ and having ‘inspired Kamala’s dangerously liberal policies and rhetoric’.

The visit itself is not a new phenomenon, with Republicans having done the same for the Conservative Party. And Nigel Farage is currently with Trump’s team as he celebrates the presidential victory.

Elon Musk, the CEO of X and Tesla, is a staunch supporter of Trump and even labelled the PM ‘two-tier Keir’ as a result of summer riots in England.

Things might not be that serious behind the rhetoric, though, with Starmer revealing he had a private dinner with Trump in September where they enjoyed each other’s company while he was on the campaign trail.

Starmer met Trump privately in September (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Starmer met Trump privately in September (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

Liz Cheney

During the 2024 US presidential election campaign, Trump took aim at former Republican heavyweight Liz Cheney.

A staunch opponent of Trump within the party who campaigned for Harris, the president-elect told one rally that Cheney should ‘see how she feels when the guns are trained on her face’.

He said: “Let’s put her with a rifle standing there, with nine barrels shooting at her, okay? Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face.”

Cheney treated this as a death threat, with it coming months after Trump called for her to be jailed.

Kamala Harris

Despite having just beaten her to the office of presidency and potentially ending her frontline career in US politics, Trump might look at Harris in another light.

During the election campaign, Trump said his opponent should be ‘impeached and prosecuted’.

Why? Over her management of the USA and Mexico border, which she is in charge of as vice president. Whether he will go after her remains to be seen, given that he has promised to finish build the border wall as a priority.

Kamala Harris lost to Trump in the 2024 election (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Kamala Harris lost to Trump in the 2024 election (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)

Hillary Clinton

Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election in a result that shocked the world and set the tone that has defined US politics ever since.

During the campaign, Trump would often refer to Clinton as ‘crooked Hillary’, with the crowd chanting ‘lock her up’ – something he would encourage. During one rally in North Carolina, Trump himself said: “For what she’s done, they should lock her up.”

And in California, he would add: “Hillary Clinton has to go to jail, okay? She has to go to jail.”

Clinton saw no action against her during the first Trump term, so it remains to be seen if he would act on the rhetoric after being inaugurated in January 2025.

Obama 'spied on Trump', according to Donald himself (Debra L Rothenberg/WireImage)

Obama ‘spied on Trump’, according to Donald himself (Debra L Rothenberg/WireImage)

Barack Obama

Trump claimed back in 2020 that Barack Obama had been ‘spying’ on his election campaign against Obama’s former vice president, Joe Biden.

He labelled Obama’s actions as ‘treason’.

Speaking to CNN, he said: “It’s treason. Look, when I came out a long time ago, I said they’ve been spying on my campaign.

“I said they’ve been taping, and that was in quotes, meaning a modern-day version of taping, it’s all the same thing. But a modern-day version. But they’ve been spying on my campaign.”

 

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