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  "path": "/post/209637/republicans-panic-trump-revenge-crusade",
  "publishedAt": "2026-04-29T14:19:16.000Z",
  "site": "https://newrepublic.com",
  "tags": [
    "Breaking News",
    "Republicans",
    "Republican Party",
    "United States",
    "Donald Trump",
    "Election 2026",
    "Politics",
    "politely suggested",
    "FBI Director James Comey",
    "Middle East war",
    "deportations",
    "poor job market",
    "high gas prices",
    "survey",
    "told",
    "heavily favored",
    "throw a wrench",
    "50 percent chance"
  ],
  "textContent": "Republicans are realizing most Americans don’t like President Trump using the Justice Department to persecute those he believes have personally wronged him.\n\nIn the midst of a contentious midterm cycle, some on the right have politely suggested the man in the Oval Office focus on the issues that got him elected. But Trump isn’t one to take advice from others. On Tuesday, his administration announced it was filing charges against former FBI Director James Comey and an aide of longtime White House medical adviser Anthony Fauci.\n\nWith an unpopular Middle East war, deportations continuing to frighten residents, a poor job market, and high gas prices, Trump’s personal revenge tour is unsurprisingly unpopular. In a March CNN survey, two-thirds of Americans said the president hasn’t paid enough attention to the most important issues facing the country, a sharp increase from the 52 percent CNN reported a year prior.\n\n“No Republican wants to run on ‘I stand with Donald Trump’s retribution tour,’” Barrett Marson, a conservative strategist, told _The Washington Post_ _._\n\nAnother GOP consultant, longtime Trump critic Whit Ayres, went even further. “[It’s] exactly the opposite of what most Americans would like to see the president and the Department of Justice focused on,” Ayres told the _Post_. “They’re worried about inflation and the economy, and many of them are worried about how the war in Iran will end.”\n\nEven some Senate Republicans have pushed back against Trump’s allocation of resources. North Carolina’s Thom Tillis, who serves on the Senate Judiciary Committee, expressed skepticism that the DOJ’s case against Comey held water. The case is built on a photo Comey posted on Instagram last year, in which seashells on a beach are arranged to write out “86 47.” While “86” is a term originally used in the restaurant industry to get rid of or cancel a dish, the DOJ is arguing this constitutes a threat to Trump’s life.\n\n“I’ve used ‘86’ a lot of times,” Tillis told the _Post_. “I’ve never said it with the intent of killing somebody.”\n\nTillis also said he would rather see U.S. Attorney W. Ellis Boyle prosecute “drug [and] human traffickers” than go after Comey. “I want to make sure Mr. Boyle, when he gets confirmed, is focusing on that sort of stuff,” he said. “Somebody’s going to have to convince me that this rises to the level of that kind of bad.”\n\nIn the latest forecasts, Democrats are heavily favored to reclaim a House majority in November, though redistricting could throw a wrench in that. They have about a 50 percent chance to take the Senate, as well. Republicans need every policy win they can get from the White House, but an ailing Trump isn’t giving them much to work with.",
  "title": "Republicans Privately Panicking About Trump’s Revenge Crusade"
}