Senator Elissa Slotkin wants young people to fear working for the Trump administration. She spoke at a University of Chicago event on October 13 about using the law to scare away future employees. Her goal is to create a chilling effect on government service for conservatives.
According to the New York Post, she argued that Democrats must make examples of officials who engage in corruption. She wants to send a clear warning to graduates thinking about joining the team. She followed that up by stating she wants them to feel the risk. “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.
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 https://t.co/p7NBJpDcQW
— The Chicago Thinker (@ThinkerChicago) October 17, 2026
Slotkin said she does not want to focus only on the president. She wants to pursue what she calls “signature cases” against the people around him. According to Breitbart, she informed the audience that her goal is to examine these signature cases, looking beyond the president to those who enabled him. She believes these cases must target egregious projects and people. She told the crowd at the Carnegie Endowment on September 30 that she wants a list of cases for the most obvious abuses of taxpayer dollars.
Kristi Noem, the Homeland Security Secretary, Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, and U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro were explicitly identified by her as individuals requiring accountability. Breitbart reported that she cautioned against misusing taxpayer funds, noting such actions could result in a prison term of up to 20 years. She compared her plan to post-authoritarian cleanups in Europe. “In Poland, they called this plan the Iron Broom, cleaning the place up,” she said at that earlier speech.
The reaction to her comments was swift and negative from current officials. Scott Kupor, who directs the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, described her comments as unprofessional and disappointing. He took to X to write his response. “This is incredibly disappointing and unprofessional coming from a U.S. senator — endorsing political prosecutions to dissuade patriotic Americans from serving their country,” Kupor wrote. Fox News reported that he called her comments a direct attack on those who wish to serve.
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.
— Michael Bicksel (@MichaelBicksel) October 18, 2026
Law professor Jonathan Turley also criticized the senator on X. He wrote that Slotkin had said the quiet part out loud. RedState observed that she had been discussing the pressure of potential prosecution since January. She previously informed the New York Times that while facts hold little importance, the threat carries significant weight. She listed the threats to your family, your staff, and you.
Astead Herndon, the editorial director, joined Slotkin at the university for a live Vox “America, Actually” podcast recording. The clip of the exchange circulated widely on social media. She admitted she wants that deterrence message sent. The question remains whether this strategy will actually stop people from serving or just drive them underground.
