[Orin Kerr] Imagining a Trump Justice Department

Donald Trump’s campaign is built on instilling fear, and in his convention address he turned to a classic fear we haven’t seen much in politics recently: fear of crime. Crime hasn’t been a big topic for politicians in recent years because violent crime has been at historic lows. But that hasn’t stopped Trump, whose speech tried to create the impression that crime is out of control and that only Trump can restore law and order.

Trump’s Nixonian turn to law and order raises an important question: What would a Trump Justice Department look like?

It would be pretty damn frightening, I think. Trump has two long-standing passions when it comes to law and law enforcement. His first passion is the suppression of protest and dissent. And his second passion is bringing lots of legal actions against his critics and threatening many more to get his way.

In Trump’s world, crushing protest and dissent is the sign of a great leader. Consider Trump’s 1990 interview with Playboy, in which he was asked about the weakening Soviet Union and the Chinese government’s then-recent massacre of pro-democracy protesters at Tiananmen Square:

Q: What were your other impressions of the Soviet Union?

TRUMP: I was very unimpressed. . . . Russia is out of control and the leadership knows it. That’s my problem with Gorbachev. Not a firm enough hand.

Q You mean firm hand as in China?

TRUMP: When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength. Our country is right now perceived as weak … as being spit on by the rest of the world–

Q Why is Gorbachev not firm enough?

TRUMP: I predict he will be overthrown, because he has shown extraordinary weakness. Suddenly, for the first time ever, there are coal-miner strikes and brush fires everywhere. . . . [H]is giving an inch is going to end up costing him and all his friends what they most cherish — their jobs.

Stop and read that again. Trump was really impressed by the “vicious” and “horrible” way that the Chinese government massacred pro-democracy protesters. Trump was disturbed when the Chinese first allowed the protest and “almost blew it.” And Gorbachev’s problem was that he didn’t have “a firm enough hand.”

1990 was a long time ago. But with Trump, that early date only shows his consistency over time. A few months ago, Trump expressed admiration for Vladimir Putin as “a strong leader” and “a powerful leader.” He has offered praise for Saddam Hussein. And just this week, when he was asked how he would respond to civil liberties violations by repressive regimes in other countries such as Turkey, Trump explained that he wouldn’t deal with that because the United States had its own mess to clean up. If you read the interview, Trump wasn’t saying that we had to to stop our own civil liberties violations before criticizing those of other governments. Rather, he was saying that the United States couldn’t criticize other countries because it needed to be “much more aggressive” at stopping the “riots” in the streets in places such as Ferguson and Baltimore. It would be “a wonderful thing,” Trump explained, if the response to the “riots” was more aggressive.

More aggressive how, you ask? Recall Trump’s reaction to protests at his speeches back in February. Trump lamented that, unlike in “the old days” that he “loved,” they couldn’t beat up protesters so badly that the protesters were “carried out in a stretcher.” Trump added that he would personally like to “punch [the protester] in the face.” Trump’s convention speech suggests that a Trump presidency might bring us back to the old days he loved. It’s time to stop being so “politically correct,” Trump explained, so “the crime and violence that today afflicts our nation will soon come to an end. Beginning on Jan. 20th, 2017, safety will be restored.”

In Trump’s world, “political correctn