House Republicans, led by the MAGA caucus that supports Donald Trump unequivocally, are dead set on carrying out their Dear Leader’s fever dreams of punishing everyone who’s ever dared to cross him — including fellow Republicans.

For these lawmakers, it is not enough to simply see someone out of office. They literally want to prosecute people, just as Trump has been talking about every time he mentions the political hit list he seems to be keeping.

Earlier this month on Meet the Press, Trump was discussing the January 6 committee, the group of House Representatives tasked with discovering the causes of the insurrection in 2021 that sought to prevent the certification of Joe Biden as president by destroying property, attacking police, and threatening the vice president himself, who was set to do the certification.

“I think those people committed a major crime, and Cheney was behind it,” he said — about the committee. “And so was Benny Thompson. Everybody on that committee.… For what they did, yeah, honestly, they should go to jail.”

Like Trump, House Republicans believe that it was an actual crime to even investigate what happened that day, since Trump was implicated in contributing to the behavior that sparked the deadly riot. But they were already mad at Liz Cheney — she had supported Trump’s first impeachment.

Today, Rep. Barry Loudermilk of Georgia released his own findings into the activities of the J6 Committee. Loudermilk is the chair of the House Administration Subcommittee on Oversight, which is like the larger, more important House Oversight Committee, but for lawmakers who want to whine about something that the real Oversight Committee won’t investigate because it’s silly.

Loudermilk said in his release that he was outlining criminal recommendations against Cheney for alleged witness tampering in the case of Cassidy Hutchinson, the former Trump aide who testified against Trump before the J6 Committee. That’s frivolous, of course — the “tampering” he’s complaining about consisted entirely of Cheney encouraging Hutchinson to testify and attempting to have Hutchinson’s former attorney disbarred when he tried to convince her not to.

In short, this whole fanfare is about people who are mad that an investigation ever took place. They’re so mad they want to put her in jail, even though she’s not even in Congress anymore.

Contrast that for a moment, if you will, against the fact that Matt Gaetz was accused of actual serious crimes involving victims, investigated by the House for his misdeeds, but he will not face any repercussions — because he’s no longer in the House.

All of this is nothing new for Trump. He has made it clear that he intends to go after his enemies and use every governmental tool at his disposal (after he’s back in the White House) to carry out his plan. He intends to literally weaponize the Justice Department against lawmakers, reporters, newspapers, and TV stations who were ever critical of him during his first term.

President Joe Biden could likely set Liz Cheney at ease with a preemptive pardon, but there’s no indicator so far one way or the other that he plans to issue any preemptive pardons for those that Trump and the GOP have threatened with retaliation.

Loudermilk’s decision to release this report could have something to do with the fact that Trump just got some terrible news about his other crimes. Judge Juan Merchan just ruled that Trump’s New York felony convictions — all 34 of them — were for acts that did not fall under the umbrella of immunity that the Supreme Court has created for Trump.

Simply put, the financial crimes he committed were carried out before he was president, and that means any communications he carried on regarding those crimes are likewise not protected. Merchan refused to throw out the convictions like Donnie demanded.

Trump has been using intimidation tactics to settle scores already, and he hasn’t even taken office yet. He recently got ABC News to agree to a settlement in a case he brought against them for “unfair coverage.”

But Liz Cheney and the entire January 6 committee have likewise refused to back down. And if anything ever comes of the J6 Committee’s findings, it could lead to more than just the felony convictions being something Trump has for him on the horizon when his final term in office expires.

That’s something Trump can’t afford to let happen. That’s why he’s been trying so hard to get those convictions tossed out. He is BIG MAD that he’s being held accountable for anything at all.

He’s already gotten away with enough.