The Director Of Retribution

Back in 2017, Ivan Raiklin, a former Green Beret and then currently serving active duty in the National Guard, ran 1776 miles across Virginia to bring awareness to the issue of veteran suicide. He also ran to see if he could get enough money to make a run for the US Senate. He did this by donating the first $22 of each donation and putting the rest into his future campaign coffers. Life in the Boomer Lane wishes she had known of Raiklin back then. Vet suicide is a huge problem. She would have immediately sent $22, or, to be safe $21.99.

In a dream-come-true scenario, Raiklin accumulated the needed cash and thus, in 2018, started collecting signatures to put himself on the ballot. He didn’t get enough and was disqualified. He then filed a federal lawsuit with the US and the state of Virginia, charging ballot access denial.

It was around this time that various Human Types began to note the antics of the pesky wannabe. Raiklin hosted a right-wing podcast show and word began to get around. Eventually, that word got to the Don, who admired Raiklin’s clever way of funding his non-campaign, and his immediate charge of dirty politics when he didn’t get what he wanted. The Don and Raiklin connected and the rest is history.

Raiklin is now poised to be Trump’s junkyard dog in the next administration. Raiklin, himself refers to his new post as “Director of Retribution.” or “deep state marauder, a.k.a. the mauler.” The “Deep State target list” (according to Raiklin) includes 350 high-ranking Democrats and Republicans, U.S. Capitol Police officers, officials at the FBI and other intelligence agencies, witnesses in Trump’s impeachment trials, and journalists at The New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post, and other news outlets. Their crime is being Trump’s political enemies. The definition of the phrase “political enemy” pretty much comes down to whatever Trump wants it to mean, on whatever day he is thinking about it. Raiklin is prepared to spring into action at any moment, whether it be against a high-profile, long-standing menber of Congress or the lady who cleaned the bathroom at the Manhattan Criminal Courthouse, while Trump was at trial.

According to Raiklin, as reported by New Republic,“Those arrests would be carried out by ‘constitutional sheriffs,’ specifically a right-wing anti-government group called the Constitutional Sheriffs and Peace Officers Association. Those sheriffs would then deputize the 75,000 veterans Raiklin claims were dismissed from the military for refusing to comply with Covid-19 vaccine mandates, forming a rogue army intent on revenge.”

The hit list, of course, is a mere speck, compared to the overall million-page “Project 2025,” the Trump Manifesto set to be put into motion on January 20, 2025, which happens to be a Monday. For those is us who fear Mondays anyway, this will be extra special. On the other hand, we hope that Trump’s accusation that Biden has caused the price of bacon to quadruple (meaning that he can’t buy it anymore), won’t mean that Raiklin will now have round up all the folks who put barcodes on said bacon.

A final note to Loyal Readers: Heather Cox Richardson, brilliant and astute historian, political commentator, author, educator, and purveyor of “Letters to An American,” which LBL devours daily, wrote about this today. It inspired LBL to continue her belief that the End was near, as well as to write this post.