'Bad things will happen': Trump ramping up threats against anyone who disagrees with him

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Donald Trump gestures after signing the sweeping spending and tax legislation, known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 4, 2025. REUTERS/Leah Millis/File Photo

When the FBI was searching the Bethesda, Maryland home of former National Security Adviser John Bolton on Friday, August 22, Michael Cohen — Trump's former personal attorney and fixer — didn't mince words during an appearance on MSNBC.

Bolton, Cohen argued, was being targeted for revenge by President Donald Trump and his allies. Cohen predicted that Bolton will be indicted on some type of federal charges, warning that other Trump foes will likely be facing criminal charges as well. And during a subsequent MSNBC appearance on August 24, Cohen predicted that former FBI Director James Comey will be targeted for retribution by Trump and his loyalists.

In his August 25 column, MSNBC's Steve Benen describes a pattern of Trump overtly threatening officials who disagree with his policies.

"On Friday morning," Benen notes, "the president specifically targeted Muriel Bowser, the Democratic mayor of the District of Columbia, for pointing to official data that conflicts with his perceptions. 'Mayor Muriel Bowser must immediately stop giving false and highly inaccurate crime figures, or bad things will happen,' the Republican wrote to his social media platform."

The "Rachel Maddow Show" producer continues, "Two days later, after former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie criticized Trump during an appearance on ABC News' 'This Week,' this also generated a related presidential threat. The New York Times reported: President Trump, on Sunday, (August 24), threatened to investigate former Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey over a 2013 political scandal, days after the FBI raided the home and office of another former Trump official turned critic."

The ex-Trump official Benen was referring to was obviously Bolton.

"In case that wasn't quite enough," Benen notes, "the president apparently also saw Maryland Gov. Wes Moore on CBS News' 'Face the Nation,' leading Trump to pitch yet another threat. NBC News reported: The president, on Sunday, also threatened to pull federal funding for the replacement of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which collapsed in 2024. The federal government had previously agreed to pay for the bridge's replacement. 'I gave Wes Moore a lot of money to fix his demolished bridge,' Trump wrote. 'I will now have to rethink that decision???'"

The MSNBC columnist continues, "The published threat was accompanied by nonsensical claims about crime rates in Baltimore — a city that's seen its murder rate drop to a 50-year low — and an attack on the Democratic governor's military service. Moore is a decorated combat veteran who served in Afghanistan…. The common thread isn't exactly well hidden: Bowser, Christie and Moore told the public facts that Trump didn't want to hear, and presidential threats soon followed. Indeed, hours after targeting the former Republican governor and incumbent Democratic governor, the president, for good measure, proceeded to threaten ABC and NBC twice for airing news coverage that he disapproved of."

Steve Benen's full MSNBC column is available at this link.