E.J. Dionne suggested in his opinion piece today that because this must be Donald Trump's last term, the Senate, and the GOP more broadly, will not be quite as comploientt as Trump might have wanted. That's wishful thinking. Trump doesn't play by the old rules, rules that tended to restrict political leverage to the political sphere. He is quite prepared to use any means possible to get his way, whether it be whipping up public fervor against his enemies or using the legal system to harass them. Neither are likely to diminish in potency any time soon. In his campaign, he clearly signalled intent to use the Department of Justice to harass his political opponents. And as the undisputed and charismatic leader of the MAGA movement, his power to apply pressure and ultimately to incite violence against his enemies doesn't depend exclusively on being president, as he ably demonstrated on January 6th 2021. He has plenty of time to threaten and if needed punish anyone who gets in his way; and as he has said so, explicitly, there can be little doubt that he will.
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