The Trumps and their vendetta "Get in line or we'll finish you off"

Donald Trump is on a roll after taking office: anyone who criticizes him or his measures is targeted by the White House. Foreign countries are also being made compliant with threats and blackmail.

"Trump vendetta sweeps through Washington in first week", writes "Axios" - and provides a "Trump's 'enemies within' list" in a second article. CNN traces"how Trump has used his first week to exact political retribution".

Isn't that a bit far-fetched, just because Trump has rescinded various decrees issued by his predecessor Joe Biden? No, the wind in Washington has actually changed - and is blowing head-on into the faces of Trump's opponents.

Eric Trump put it this way on X: "Anyone who dares to defy America's Golden Age should heed this warning: You will lose. Fall in line, or we will finish you off." The fun was over - and Washington could hit much harder than just with tariffs. However, the threat to X was deleted after a short time.

It's not just Trump's opponents who need to watch out - as the following 5 points show. The Republican also does not tolerate any resistance within his party and warns of corresponding "consequences", according to "NBC News".

"What do you think about the service?" reporters shout at Donald Trump on the day after his inauguration, when Washington's Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde asked him to be lenient towards migrants, trans people and homosexuals in a church service. "What do you think about that?" the new president asks back.

He answers the question himself. "Wasn't that exciting, was it? I don't think it was a good service. I think they can do a lot better than that." The New Yorker's anger is clear to see. When he gets home, the 78-year-old vents his anger at Budde. Along the lines of: How dare the woman of God speak her mind in church? However, the clergywoman refuses to apologize.

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While Budde's courage is inspiring liberal believers in the USA, the right-wingers are retaliating for Trump, if not outright vendetta. "I've had people who have wished me dead," the bishop tells MSNBC presenter Rachel Maddows. "I'm not sure if they threatened to kill me, but they seemed to be happy for me to meet my eternal fate sooner rather than later."

"Media Metters" reveals that conservative press outlets are blowing the whistle on Budde. Matt Walsh from "Daily Wire" says that "hell exists for people like Mariann", Fox News presenters call the bishop a "radical leftist" who is infected by the "woke virus": she should rather "talk to the families of those who were killed by illegals". Right-wing podcaster Steven Crowder even calls the service "satanic".

On January 26, Colombia turns away two US military planes filled with migrants who are to be deported. Bogota only wants to take them back once they have been repatriated in "dignified circumstances". Trump reacts angrily: he announces "emergency punitive tariffs" of 25 percent, which would rise to 50 percent if Colombia does not give in within a week.

At first, President Gustavo Pedro defended himself: "You can try to carry out a coup with your economic strength and arrogance, like they did with Allende," he wrote on X. And: "You will kill me, but I will survive among my people." He also wants to impose tariffs, the 64-year-old announces.

But Trump's pressure quickly becomes too much. On the same day, Bogota agrees to the "unrestricted admission of all illegal immigrants". Transportation in military aircraft is now also accepted, reports the news agency Reuters. Although the USA waives the planned tariffs, the plan is kept on the back burner in case "Colombia does not honor the agreement".

The circumstances of the deportations are also being criticized elsewhere in South America: Brazil is outraged that 88 migrants are being transferred in handcuffs. This is a "blatant disregard for fundamental rights": Brazil is therefore demanding an explanation from the White House. However, no one can expect any understanding for this protest.

It is astonishing how Trump is pushing ahead with the acquisition of Greenland. Especially when you consider that it was probably the Russian secret service that gave the Republican the idea: According to Reuters, it all started in 2019 with a letter that US Senator Tom Cotton received. The sender was apparently the Greenlandic government, which threw itself at Washington in the letter.

This is how Trump is said to have come up with his Greenland idea: a corresponding request to Copenhagen was rejected - which promptly prompted the bully in the White House to cancel a planned bilateral meeting. And even now, the American does not accept that the Danes have no interest in a sale - not least because Greenland has a right to self-determination, as Copenhagen has already emphasized several times.

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Trump does not dispute this: The US president is also increasing diplomatic pressure in this matter without further ado. "Trump alarms Denmark with icy exchange over Greenland" headlines the New York Times, referring to a phone call with Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on 15 January. The US newspaper's sources, like the Financial Times before them, report an aggressive tone from the American.

Copenhagen has offered increased cooperation - and asked allies to stop adding fuel to the fire. But: "The Danes are saying: 'Stay calm'. But they are afraid," says political scientist and consultant Zaki Laïdi. Washington's behavior is a "huge challenge" for the EU. Donald Trump confirmed this on January 25.

"I think we're going to get it," he tells reporters on board Air Force One. "I think they [Greenlanders and Greenlanders] want to be with us. I don't really know what claim Denmark has to it, but it would be a very unfriendly act if they didn't allow it because it's for the protection of the free world."

It's like in the mafia trilogy "The Godfather": Trump makes Frederiksen an offer she can't refuse.

Anyone who has criticized Donald Trump but relies on personal protection is now in trouble. His former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and his former National Security Advisor John Bolton can tell you a thing or two about it: The president has withdrawn the bodyguards from both of them.

The duo is held responsible by Iran for the killing of commander Qasem Soleimani in January 2020. After Trump's election defeat that year, Bolton made a name for himself as a persistent critic of his party colleague - and incurred Trump's wrath as a result. Pompeo also reproached the 78-year-old, but was still just being considered as the new Secretary of State.

Iran would be pretty stupid to do anything to Bolton or Pompeo: an assassination attempt on the US politicians would be tantamount to a declaration of war. The situation is different with immunologist Anthony Fauci, who has been targeted by right-wing circles during the pandemic. He also fell out with Trump after the publication of his book at the latest.

Now Fauci no longer receives state personal protection either - and Trump has apparently even told reporters that he would not feel responsible if anything happened to the 84-year-old. "[Fauci and Bolton] have all made a lot of money," the president justified his measures. "They can also hire their own security guards." At least Fauci has now done so.

In an email on 22 January, the Trump administration called on government employees to denounce. It is about the so-called DEI guidelines, which were supposed to ensure more diversity in the workplace and which Trump has revoked. The email states that if anyone nevertheless makes an effort to hire non-white men, this should be reported.

State employees now fear repression, reports the BBC: the aim is probably to intimidate them, says an anonymous person. But even conservatives who are against DEI are skeptical about Trump's directive: "But that doesn't mean I want my colleagues to be fired," says one person from the Department of Health.

Trans people are also in Trump's sights, who officially only allows two genders: since the beginning of January, eight corresponding laws have been introduced, reports "Salon". Among other things, the healthcare system will no longer fund gender reassignment surgery.

"All of this is part of the same general effort," says lawyer Ian Thompson from the ACLU: "This anti-trans extremism among many on the right, which really stems from a desire to drive transgender people out of our communities, out of our schools - out of all of public life."