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It had a slightly more noble sound to it in 2023, when then-former President Donald Trump made the lofty but creepy promise to a friendly MAGA crowd at CPAC.

“In 2016 I declared: I am your voice. Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution.”

The idea that voters might send Trump to right significant injustices like inflation, inner-city crime, and an out-of-control migrant crisis — the three issues that mattered most to them — was appealing to plenty of voters, more than enough to put him back in the White House.

But if that was the main course, there were other side “injustices” he sought to fix, too — DEI policies, wokeism on college campuses, trans men in girls’ sports — keyword issues meant to be an amuse bouche for his base.

Then, there was dessert: avenging his personal injustices. He made it very clear while he was running that he was going to punish his political enemies for going after him. He’s carried out that promise doggedly since being reelected.

But what he didn’t tell American voters was that they’d often be collateral damage in his war of attrition against all these injustices and enemies, that they’d end up being targets, too.

But he’s not hiding it now.

This week, Trump announced he was moving the U.S. Space Force command from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Huntsville, Alabama. Why? Not for any strategic advantage. Not because it’s more cost effective. Not to help the state of Alabama. But to punish the state of Colorado.

“The problem I have with Colorado — one of the big problems — they do mail-in voting. They went to all mail-in voting. So they have automatically crooked elections, and we can’t have that. So that played a big factor also.”

Importantly, Trump lost Colorado in all three elections, but made sure to point out he won Alabama.

The move will cost Colorado Springs and its five military installations jobs and prestige, and even Colorado Republicans like Rep. Lauren Boebert have opposed it. But to carry on the ruse of Trump’s election fraud lies, Colorado voters — including in El Paso County, where Trump won in 2024 — must be the losers.

A little more than a week ago, it was Maryland in the crosshairs, when Trump threatened to cancel funding for the reconstruction of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, which was struck by a ship last year. Why? Because Gov. Wes Moore is refusing to deploy the National Guard to fight crime in cities like Baltimore.

Tens of thousands of vehicles crossed that bridge a day, and it’s a vital corridor for moving goods up the Eastern Seaboard. But no matter for Trump — they can all wait on their lousy bridge. He’s got a grudge to hold.

Earlier this year, he unimaginably threatened to withhold disaster relief to California after it suffered devastating wildfires unless the state enacted voter ID laws. So, once again, Californians struggling to rebuild their homes, schools, and businesses were merely political pawns to him. Sickening.

It was more of the same after Hurricane Maria devastated Puerto Rico. After delaying more than $20 billion in congressionally approved aid, he faced allegations that he was deliberately punishing the territory over politics. Most of the aid didn’t reach Puerto Rico until the Biden administration released it in April 2021.

Whether it’s his tariffs, which are a tax on all American consumers, his threats to withhold disaster funding in cities that don’t comply with his crime edicts, or his regular aggressions against LGBTQ Americans and minorities, Trump is proactively punishing or threatening to punish wide swaths of American voters so he can score political points, soothe his overweening ego, or just make people uncomfortable.

It’s gross, and a huge abuse of power. It also makes him a small and sad figure who will be remembered most lastingly for his petty politics of personal grievances.

You have to wonder when his voters will wake up and realize they’ve been bamboozled, used, and abused. He’s taken their hard-earned money to line his pockets, under the guise of “stopping the steal” and fighting non-existent election fraud. He’s lied to them repeatedly, sending many of them into harm’s way on Jan. 6. He fed them bogus conspiracy theories that helped him get elected and now insists they’re a hoax. His One Big Beautiful Bill will cut up to $1 trillion in Medicaid, decrease funding for rural hospitals and take health insurance away from millions of his own voters.

His loyalty has always been one-way and conditional. But now he’s actively punishing Americans, including his own voters. Will they ever tire of being targets and pawns?

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(S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.)

©2025 S.E. Cupp. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.