Senator Slotkin’s Imprudent Remarks and Republicans’ Hypocritical Reactions

Jack Goldsmith · 19 Oct 2026

Jack Goldsmith did not write this page.

Every claim below was made in this piece, quoted word for word and numbered in the order the piece makes them, so you can read it there rather than take our word for it. The sentence above each quote is our reading of the claim, not their wording. Each quote was checked against a stored copy of the page at build time; where the two differ, the quote is the fact.

Our reading
The Trump administration's use of government power is intended to impose as much pain as possible on its enemies.

Their wordsThe aim has been to use every tool of government power-prosecutions, investigations, raids, arrests, firings, funding and benefit cutoffs, threats of all of these things, other sorts of threats, and harsh government speech that riles up crowds of minatory supporters-in an effort to impose as much pain as possible on enemies, broadly conceived.
Our reading
A significant portion of the Trump administration's weaponization strategy is designed to achieve deterrence.

Their wordsI am confident that a good chunk of the Trump weaponization strategy is to achieve deterrence of just these sorts.
Our reading
The incentive for brutal retaliation will be overwhelming for the next Democratic administration.

Their wordsThe incentive for brutal retaliation will be overwhelming, especially since it will be argued, just as Vance argued, that the other side has already done it, will do it again if possible, and thus must be maximally deterred.

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