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.