Maddow Blog-While targeting perceived foes, Trump keeps pushing for federal investigations

[LetMyPeopleVote]

For the president, “there should be an investigation” has effectively become a punctuation mark he uses to end far too many sentences about perceived foes.

It seems like "there should be an investigation" has effectively become a punctuation mark Trump uses to end sentences about his perceived foes. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-05-22T20:03:52.616Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/targeting-perceived-foes-trump-keeps-pushing-federal-investigations-rcna208543

On Wednesday afternoon, as Donald Trump held a contentious Oval Office meeting with South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, the Pentagon announced that it had accepted a superluxury jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar. It led NBC News’ Peter Alexander to ask the president about the controversial arrangement.

The Republican did not appear pleased.
https://bsky.app/profile/did:plc:4llrhdclvdlmmynkwsmg5tdc/post/3lpp2mtmkpy2c

Link to tweet

The president went on for quite a while, attacking Alexander’s professionalism and intellect, which was unfortunate but largely forgettable. But as his harangue wrapped up, Trump also told NBC News’ chief White House correspondent, “You ought to go back to your studio at NBC, because [Comcast CEO] Brian Roberts and the people that run that place, they ought to be investigated.”...

That came on the heels of the Republican insisting that pollsters “should be investigated” for releasing survey data that he considered unreliable.

In previous weeks, Trump has also called for investigations into CBS News, New York Attorney General Letitia James, former FBI director James Comey, the bipartisan House Jan. 6 committee, U.S. District Court Judge James Boasberg, the elected government of South Africa, schools that allow transgender student athletes to compete in sports, and the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

To be sure, there’s little to suggest that federal officials are following each of Trump’s comments as literal directives — Springsteen, for example, probably won’t face an actual Justice Department probe — but it’s still unsettling to see “there should be an investigation” effectively become a punctuation mark the president uses to end sentences about perceived foes.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Trump admin regulators launch investigation into Media Matters, adding to pattern

If it seems as if there have been a lot of new federal investigations into Democrats and their allies lately, it’s not your imagination.

@democrats.org
@schumer.senate.gov
@hakeem-jeffries.bsky.social
@normeisen.bsky.social
Trump is going after MEDIA MATTERS using FTC! We must push back against this.
Trump admin regulators launch investigation into Media Matters, adding to pattern
www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

— (@deemidnight.bsky.social) 2025-05-23T21:38:40.907Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-admin-regulators-launch-investigation-media-matters-adding-patte-rcna208780

Donald Trump has an odd habit of demanding investigations into all kinds of people and entities whom he perceives as political foes, indifferent to whether his targets have actually done anything wrong. Often, the presidential calls amount to meaningless chest-thumping and go ignored.

But it’s important to remember that many of the White House’s political antagonists are, in fact, facing the kind of investigations that Trump has in mind. The New York Times reported:

The Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday opened an investigation into Media Matters, a liberal advocacy organization that has published research on hateful and antisemitic content on X, according to two people familiar with the inquiry. The regulator said in a letter sent to the organization that it was investigating the group, which is aligned with Democrats, over whether it illegally colluded with advertisers, according to the people.

It’s worth emphasizing for context that Trump’s top campaign donor and White House adviser, Elon Musk, sued the progressive media watchdog a couple of years ago, raising similar allegations, and as the Times’ article noted, the FTC’s regulators “also asked Media Matters to turn over all the documents it had produced or received from X in that litigation.”

Media Matters’ president, Angelo Carusone, said in a statement, “Right-wing media figures holding key posts and abusing government power to target critics are two hallmarks of the Trump administration. Threats won’t work, our mission continues.” (The commission, meanwhile, did not comment)......

And did I mention the investigation into former FBI director James Comey? Because that's underway, too.

The Times also recently highlighted the broader pattern:

Mr. Trump and his allies are aggressively attacking the players and machinery that power the left, taking a series of highly partisan official actions that, if successful, will threaten to hobble Democrats’ ability to compete in elections for years to come.

Trump and his team are also going after law firms, universities and news organizations they consider political foes of the White House.

What’s more, given Ed Martin’s new responsibilities at the Justice Department, this overtly and abusive partisan pattern is likely to intensify.