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WASHINGTON — Michigan Sen. Elissa Slotkin publicly called on Democrats to intimidate young conservatives who want to work for the Trump administration by prosecuting the president’s staffers.
Slotkin (D-Mich.), a former CIA analyst, contended that Democrats must “go after” and make examples out of officials in President Trump’s orbit who engage in corruption to send a message to young people who may want to join the administration.
“I want young people coming out of school to say, ‘Should I go work for the Trump administration? That sounds fun, I might get an opportunity,’” Slotkin mused at a University of Chicago event last week that has since gone viral.
“I want them to be like, ‘Lord, that might be buying myself a ton of problems I don’t want, and so let me avoid participating in that,’” the senator went on. “I want that deterrence message sent.”
ON UCHICAGO CAMPUS: U.S. Senator from Michigan Elissa Slotkin hopes planned political prosecutions of republican leaders will scare young conservatives from getting involved in politics.@ElissaSlotkin pic.twitter.com/p7NBJpDcQW
— The Chicago Thinker (@ThinkerChicago) October 17, 2026
The Michigan Democrat also stressed the importance of finding “signature” corruption cases to prosecute rather than just focusing on President Trump specifically.
“We do have to have accountability for the unbelievable corruption that we are living under right now,” she said. “But you can’t just make that your whole personality, right? So you have to pick signature cases, and you have to go after people and projects that are just super egregious.”
Slotkin reflected that despite her voting to impeach Trump twice, he’s still in the White House and seemingly alluded to how he survived the four criminal cases against him.
“The people around Donald Trump who are doing his bidding and enabling this have no such immunity. They have no immunity the way the president does,” she added.
“And to me, he couldn’t do any of this stuff without all of those people saluting and supporting it. So you go after the people who do his bidding.”
Slotkin’s remarks ignited a firestorm on social media from conservatives.
“Sen. Slotkin, a self-avowed ‘defender of democracy,’ told me and other conservative students that we should live in fear of political persecution if we dare serve our country in the Trump administration,” University of Chicago student Michael Bicksel posted on X.
“Sadly for her, we will never be intimidated by her Bolshevik-style tactics.”
Sen. Slotkin, a self-avowed “defender of democracy,” told me and other conservative students that we should live in fear of political persecution if we dare serve our country in the Trump administration. Sadly for her, we will never be intimidated by her Bolshevik-style tactics. https://t.co/OI4M1ssl7D
— Michael Bicksel (@MichaelBicksel) October 18, 2026
“Sen. Elissa Slotkin just said that he wants to prosecute everyone who works for President Trump and that her goal is for young conservatives coming out of school to be afraid of working in a Republican administration,” conservative influencer Greg Price chided on X.
Sen. Elissa Slotkin just said that he wants to prosecute everyone who works for President Trump and that her goal is for young conservatives coming out of school to be afraid of working in a Republican administration pic.twitter.com/2ycIvMclYL
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) October 17, 2026
“This is gross. Democrat Senator Elissa Slotkin threatens young conservatives wanting to work in government and be civically engaged,” GOP operative Nathan Brand said.
Last week, Trump openly mused about going on a massive pardon spree, including a self-pardon near the end of his time in the White House.
“I don’t want to see people that work for me go through years of nonsense, hire lawyers and everything else, all for nothing,” the president told Newsmax host Rob Finnerty.