One of Kamala Harris’s latest attack lines is to paint a picture of a bitter and twisted Donald Trump, hunched over his desk in the dead of night compiling a list of enemies.
In her closing speech at the White House Ellipse on Sunday, Ms Harris told crowds of soon-to-be voters that Trump “has an enemies list of people he intends to prosecute”.
She has repeated the claim several times since — and there is no doubt that Ms Harris would be near the top if such a list does exist.
The nearest to a historical precedent was back in the 1970s, when Richard Nixon and his officials drew up plans to make life awkward for their opponents.
John Dean, Nixon’s White House counsel, suggested officials should examine: “How we can use the available federal machinery to screw political enemies.”
Trump, himself, has tangled with more than a few of his contemporaries over the years, with the outspoken former president never shy about making his views clear on social media when he feels someone has slighted him.
Here are some of the people unlucky enough to cross his path.
Joe Biden
Top of Trump’s roll call of foes is Joe Biden.
Shortly after being indicted for his role in the Jan 6 insurrection, Trump said he would fight back in kind.
“I will appoint a real special ‘prosecutor’ to go after the most corrupt president in the history of the USA, Joe Biden and the entire Biden crime family, and all others involved with the destruction of our elections, borders, & country itself!,” he posted to Truth Social.
Hunter Biden, the president’s son has already been convicted on firearms charges and in September pleaded guilty to tax charges.
Joe Biden and Trump have both called for each other to be put behind bars.
Hillary Clinton
During the 2016 election campaign, nothing stirred the Trump faithful more than the demand that Hillary Clinton be measured for a prison jumpsuit.
Every time he mentioned “crooked Hillary”, the crowd would chant “lock her up”.
Even after his victory, the chants continued – and Trump suggested that his supporters lean on his then attorney general, Jeff Sessions, to make their dream come true.
He did not and the former first lady and secretary of state has yet to see the inside of a prison cell.
Liz Cheney
Not only did she sit on the congressional committee investigating Jan 6, but Ms Cheney is now campaigning for Kamala Harris.
Describing her as a “radical war hawk”, Trump told his audience: “Let’s put her with a rifle standing there, with nine barrels shooting at her, okay? Let’s see how she feels about it, you know, when the guns are trained on her face.”
Ms Cheney took that as a death threat, the Trump campaign said she had “misinterpreted” his remarks, rushing out a statement accusing her of being “quick to start wars and send other Americans to fight them, rather than go into combat themselves”.
In May, Trump called for her to be jailed for her “treasonous” leadership of the Jan 6 committee.
Not only should she face a military tribunal but the event should be televised, he said.
Kamala Harris
The Democratic presidential contender is likely to be put on the Department of Justice’s to-do list if Trump wins the election.
If Trump had his way, she would have been disqualified from running for president, but he will settle for her being prosecuted.
The former president has said Ms Harris should be punished for her handling of the border during her time as Joe Biden’s vice-president.
Barack Obama
Trump has not spared his predecessor from calls for summary justice, repeatedly accusing him of committing “crimes”.
Among them, Trump said his predecessor had “spied” on his campaign.
Speaking to CNN in 2020, he said: “It’s treason. Look, when I came out a long time ago, I said they’ve been spying on my campaign.
“I said they’ve been taping, and that was in quotes, meaning a modern-day version of taping, it’s all the same thing. But a modern-day version. But they’ve been spying on my campaign.”
Mark Milley
The former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff who has since described Trump as a fascist, should also face execution – according to a posting the former president published on his Truth Social channel.
Gen Milley upset Trump by ringing the Chinese to reassure Beijing after the storming of the Capitol.
It was “an act so egregious that, in times gone by, the punishment would have been DEATH,” was Trump’s verdict.
Nancy Pelosi
Former leader of the House of Representatives Ms Pelosi – who was a thorn in Trump’s side during his administration – gets off quite lightly.
She should merely be prosecuted over her husband Paul Pelosi’s share trading.
In all, according to one estimate, Trump has made more than 100 threats to punish enemies as part of his retribution against “the enemy from within”.
Journalists who refused to disclose sources would also be put behind bars as would poll workers who Trump claims “rigged” the 2020 election.
The Labour Party
Among Trump’s potential list of enemies is Britain’s Labour Party.
The Republican candidate’s campaign filed a formal complaint to the Federal Election Commission last month accusing Sir Keir Starmer’s governing party of making “illegal foreign campaign contributions and interference in our elections”.
In a release announcing the complaint, which referenced The Telegraph’s own reporting, the Trump campaign accused Labour of being a “far-Left” party that had “inspired Kamala’s dangerously liberal policies and rhetoric”.
The allegation came after Labour Party staff organised a trip for almost 100 activists to campaign for Kamala Harris in several critical battleground states.
Labour has also received repeated broadsides from Elon Musk, the Tesla billionaire turned Trump surrogate, who has attacked the Prime Minister over the policing of riots this summer, labelling him “two-tier Keir”.
