Trump Plans to Use Men With Guns as Part of IRS Campaign Against “Left-Leaning” Groups

The war against Trump’s perceived political enemies keeps escalating. The Wall Street Journal provides new detail on how the Trump Administration intends to use an IRS criminal unit, whose members bear arms, as part of his campaign against “left-leaning” organizations. This fallows a Reuters account describing how the Trump Administration intends to use the Department of Justice and DHS to pursue “left wing” groups that allegedly fomented violence.

Mind you, back in the day of McCarthy witch hunts, the targets were actual Communists or those who had colorable connections to Communists. This was a small swathe of society but did pick up many members of the intelligentsia who had participated in Communist organizations in college or had friends who could be depicted as being Communist. The fear, particularly among Hollywood studios, was intense (recall movies were not deemed to have First Amendment protection prior to a 1952 Supreme Court ruling). Trump is casting his targets net much wider. Democrats are taking “left-leaning” to mean potentially any Democrat and this reading does not seem to be nuts.

The violence allegations are also a stretch, but they will be more than sufficient to allow Trump officials to root in the records and communications of many groups and key individuals. Even if they do not succeed in deploying their big guns successfully, criminal prosecution and stripping the groups of not-for-profit status, the effort will be chilling. At a minimum, the campaign will force the targets to spend heavily on lawyers. Recall that Aaron Schwartz killed himself over Federal charges that most experts were confident he could beat back. But litigation is a crapshoot, his potential sentence was long, and the cost of his defense was estimated at $1.5 million which he did not have and he did not want to bankrupt his parents in trying to muster up the funds.

Admittedly, this is anecdata, but consider. First, in the Black Live Matters protests, there was organized looting of Macys and other stores….which had nothing to do with the protestors. The New York Times reported at length how gang members with bikes cased the area as the marches were on, and then moved in as darkness fell and the demonstrators had cleared out with trucks to make their haul.

Similarly, a contact has been a co-organizer of anti-Trump marches. In a recent one, participants that none of the event leaders recognized were trying to foment a fight, urging the protestors to throw objects at the police. The protest leaders screamed at the marchers that this was a peaceful protest and not to take the bait. The protest stayed non-violent.

As the Trump Administration telegraphed earlier, one of their big plans is to strip organizations of not-for-profit status who have been allegedly engaged in political activity. This is low-hanging fruit. 501(c)3 not for profits are for charitable activities (which includes supporting journalism). Donations to them are tax deductible to the donor. 501(c)4 is for not for profits engaged in political activity. Donations to them are not tax deductible but the organization is not taxed. Public Citizen and I imagine other groups regularly involved in DC trench warfare have both 501(c)3 and 501(c)4 units and I would assume run tight ships given their fondness for controversy. That is likely not to hold for others.

But now Team Trump is about to launch the big salvo of going after purported domestic terrorists. That not only allows them to engage in ICE-raid level stunts of sending armed IRS and DHS agents in but also to deploy the anti-money-laundering/anti-terrorist-finance apparatus at Treasury to examine money flows. The top target is the Soros Open Society Foundation. Trump has repeatedly attacked its head, Alex Soros, and called for his prosecution, since at least 2023. More recently Trump Administration officials have made clear they intend to pursue not only the Soros Foundation but also grantees, as in they are presumed guilty, irrespective of what they were actually up to.

Among other things, this looks like karma for Team Dem taking over Black Lives Matter via suborning it via successfully parachuting in non-organic leaders and providing considerable funding. This takeover occurred just after BLM started staging high-profile “die-ins” at places like Grand Central, which attracted considerable participation from people of all races. The Democrats were successful; the die-ins abruptly stopped. I am told some local BLM units were able to maintain their independence.

Even conservatives are alarmed at the prospect of open political persecution:

Conservatives (including me!) were rightly outraged when the IRS under Obama appeared to be giving undue scrutiny to Tea Party organizations. And that was *nothing* compared to what is being laid out here by the Trump administration. https://t.co/nKQ5T8ewSS

— Sarah Longwell (@SarahLongwell25) October 16, 2025

Now to the press accounts. Key sections from the Journal’s report:

The Trump administration is preparing sweeping changes at the Internal Revenue Service that would allow the agency to pursue criminal inquiries of left-leaning groups more easily, according to people familiar with the matter.

A senior IRS official involved in the effort has drawn up a list of potential targets that includes major Democratic donors, some of the people said.

The undertaking aims to install allies of President Trump at the IRS criminal-investigative division, or IRS-CI, to exert firmer control over the unit and weaken the involvement of IRS lawyers in criminal investigations, officials said. The proposed changes could open the door to politically motivated probes…

Among those on the list are the billionaire Democratic donor George Soros and his affiliated groups…

The effort within the IRS coincides with a larger administration effort to probe left-leaning groups for helping to finance organizations that the president says are creating anarchy in Democratic-led cities….

Trump previously said on Truth Social that Soros and his son Alex should face federal charges under the RICO Act and added in a separate interview that the elder Soros “should be in jail” without offering specific reasons…

Trump has ordered Bessent as the acting IRS commissioner to refer certain tax-exempt organizations to the Justice Department for further investigation…

The IRS has long tried to steer clear of political controversies, though not always successfully. During the Obama administration, an inspector general’s report concluded in 2013 that the IRS had used inappropriate criteria to select conservative groups for what proved to be lengthy, invasive scrutiny when seeking tax-exempt status…

The IRS-CI is a formidable tool. It has more than 2,000 agents, investigates potential criminal violations of the tax code, and assists other agencies in combating financial crime. It is the part of the IRS where agents often carry firearms, and it is distinct from the auditors and collectors who handle civil tax enforcement.

Recall that the Administration considered a perp walk for recently-indicted James Comey, but may have held back because the case against him is weak. One wonders if the Trump team will exhibit a similar level of probity with Alex Soros, particularly given that he has the resources to mount a fierce defense. Rudy Guiliani’s perp walk for Kidder Peabody’s Richard Wigton, who was later vindicated, was an embarrassing backfire.

Keep in mind that Team Trump has cut IRS staffing, so this bulking up to pursue enemies will likely come at the expense of other services.

Since President Trump took office, the IRS has faced transformative changes, including a substantial reduction in its workforce and the appointment of seven different commissioners or acting commissioners. These actions are presented by Trump and his allies as efforts to restore… pic.twitter.com/HQBKLUmmIV

— Bloomberg Tax (@tax) October 15, 2025

Many cheered Trump reversal of Biden Administration staffing increases, when nearly half of the total was for customer support staff. I know individuals personally who have had taxes not owed where IRS mis-processing resulted in dunning efforts sent out to collection. That is due directly to staff cuts. For instance, professional tax filers are no longer uable to get through on the professional phone line (where they had been able to, albeit at times with some effort) and repeated letters correct IRS errors have not been acted upon. So be careful what you wish for.

The Reuters story focused on how the Trump Administration is structuring the campaign against political foes across Federal agencies:

President Donald Trump’s threatened crackdown on the finances and activities of liberal non-profits and groups opposed to his agenda is a multi-agency effort with top White House aide Stephen Miller playing a central role, according to officials.

The Trump administration plans to deploy America’s counter-terrorism apparatus – including the FBI, the Department of Homeland Security and the Justice Department – as well as the Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department against certain left-wing groups it accuses of funding and organizing political violence, the officials said….

Miller is deeply involved in reviewing government agencies’ investigations into the financial networks behind what the administration labels “domestic terror networks,” which include nonprofits and even educational institutions…

“Left-wing organizations have fueled violent riots, organized attacks against law enforcement officers, coordinated illegal doxing campaigns, arranged drop points for weapons and riot materials, and more,” the White House said in a statement to Reuters….

When pressed by a Reuters reporter in the Oval Office on September 25 about potential targets of a domestic terrorism probe, Trump mentioned George Soros – a Democratic donor whose charitable network supports civil rights, education, democracy and other causes – and Reid Hoffman, co-founder of the online professional networking platform LinkedIn and another Democratic mega-donor.

The president did not present evidence of wrongdoing. “If they are funding these things, they’re going to have some problems. Because they’re agitators and they’re anarchists,” Trump said….

In response to a separate request, the White House highlighted seven political protests in 2023 and 2025 that included acts of violence directed against law enforcement officials, and two incidents of vandalism at Tesla dealerships this year as well as half a dozen social media posts celebrating the damage.

It named nine liberal groups, donors or fundraising organizations that it said helped finance or plan protests where the violent incidents occurred.

While the second White House official stressed that the organizations were not necessarily potential targets, the material provides insight into the administration’s thinking.

The list includes Soros’ Open Society Foundations; ActBlue, the funding arm of the Democratic Party; Indivisible, a grassroots coalition opposed to Trump policies and the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights, a Los Angeles-based group.

This is going to get ugly. But as indicated, many of the targets can and will mount muscular legal defenses. How much they can do to throw sand in the gears of Trump’s political revenge machine remains to be seen.