Trump Melts Down in Unhinged Revenge Rant: ‘They Must Pay’

President Donald Trump took to Truth Social this week to renew his baseless attack on Barack Obama, accusing the former president of engineering a post-2016 “coup” and declaring that “they must pay” for it. In a string of incendiary posts, Trump insisted the “Russia, Russia, Russia HOAX is now TOTALLY UNDISPUTED!” and demanded that the “perpetrators of this CRIME must pay a big price,” calling it “the biggest scandal in American history.” He even shared a right‑wing video with historian Victor Davis Hanson accusing Obama-era intelligence leaders of trying to “destroy” him, adding that “they must pay for the crime of the Century.” Observers note that the Truth Social tirade is widely seen as a distraction from damaging news about the Justice Department’s Epstein investigation and the Trump administration’s efforts to downplay it.

Trump’s attack draws on sensational claims by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. In July, Gabbard released purportedly declassified documents alleging a “treasonous conspiracy” by President Obama and senior aides to manufacture evidence of Russian interference in 2016, ostensibly to undermine Trump’s victory. She charged that Obama’s team was laying the groundwork for “what was essentially a years-long coup against President Trump.” These sweeping accusations hinge on a supposed contradiction between the January 2017 intelligence community finding that Russia ran an influence campaign to help Trump and later claims (unsupported by evidence) that Moscow actually changed votes in his favor. In fact, intelligence agencies have never concluded that Russia flipped vote totals or hacked voting machines; they uniformly found only an influence campaign, not direct election tampering.

Administration allies like Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino eagerly promoted Gabbard’s claims, celebrating newly declassified FBI notes about a decades-old allegation that Hillary Clinton approved a plan to tie Trump to Putin. But the released Durham report annex makes clear that the FBI “ultimately was unable to verify” any such Clinton scheme. As the Washington Post explains, the classified appendix contains emails suggesting only that Clinton aides discussed highlighting Trump’s Russia ties for political gain – nothing proved a coordinated smear plot. In fact, experts note the Clinton‑plan story appears to trace back to Russian intelligence. The Durham documents imply the memo about Clinton’s alleged plan was obtained via Russian hackers and even possibly fabricated by spies. The Obama White House and intelligence officials have repeatedly dismissed the conspiracy claims. Spokesperson Patrick Rodenbush called them “ridiculous” and “a weak attempt at distraction,” emphasizing that nothing in any new leaks changes the “widely accepted conclusion” that Russia did try to influence 2016 but did not flip the vote.

Meanwhile, the Trump‑Epstein saga provides crucial context. Trump recently told reporters aboard Air Force One that he only cut ties with Jeffrey Epstein after learning the financier had “stolen” spa workers from his Mar‑a‑Lago club. In other words, Trump claims he ended their friendship not over allegations of sex abuse, but because Epstein kept poaching his employees. One of those women Trump mentioned was identified as Virginia Giuffre – a prominent Epstein sex‑trafficking victim – who tragically died by suicide in April. Critics argue that Trump’s latest social-media stunt is classic revenge‑theater: deflecting scrutiny of his own entanglements by relitigating debunked claims about Obama and “Russia hoax” conspiracies.

In sum, Trump’s latest rage‑filled posts recycled long‑discredited allegations that Obama tried to overturn the 2016 election. His insistence that Obama‑era officials “must pay” recalls the hyper‑partisan smear tactics of his campaign – tactics that now are being exposed by the very documents he flaunts. Every authoritative probe, from the bipartisan Senate Intelligence Committee to Special Counsel investigations, has confirmed that Russia interfered in 2016 but did not change the outcome. Trump’s demands for vengeance therefore stand on thin air – a fact that even his ardent supporters now ignore as they cling to increasingly convoluted conspiracy theories.