Critics of former President Donald Trump have spent months saying that he would end American democracy if he gets elected to a second term in 2024.
The real estate mogul is not shying from the “dictator” tag. He is more or less embracing the idea. During a town hall with Sean Hannity on Fox News, the host tried several times to push Trump away from the concept, and he failed.
Hannity, who wanted some reassurance, did not get any. The Fox News presenter told Trump: “They want to call you a dictator. To be clear, do you in any way have any plans whatsoever, if reelected president, to abuse power, to break the law, to use the government to go after people?”
The Republican front-runner replied: “You mean like they’re using it right now.” Mr. Trump avoided giving a clear answer on the matter and steered the exchange toward his problems with the law.
The Fox News personality returned to the issue after a commercial break and added: “[U]nder no circumstances. You are promising America tonight. You would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?”
Trump was not more convincing the second time around either and said: “Except for day one.” A surprised Hannity asked, “Except, what?” Trump replied, “He’s going crazy. Except for day one.”
Trump continued to clarify his point: “I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill. I love this guy, he says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator are you?’ I said no, no, no, other than day one. We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.”
Democrats are seizing the opening and sharing the statement on social media. Trump did not help his case by comparing himself to notorious gangster Al Capone.
He shared: “I’ve often said, Al Capone, he was one of the greatest of all time if you like criminals. He was a mob boss, the likes of which — Scarface, they call him. And he got indicted once. I got indicted four times. I wonder what my father and mother would say looking down.”
Trump is currently leading in the polls and is not even pretending to be someone else. Voters know exactly what they are getting this time around.
President Joe Biden is pushing that angle. He said at a fundraiser: “Trump’s not even hiding the ball anymore. He’s telling us exactly what he wants to do. He’s making no bones about it.”
Biden campaign manager Julie Chávez Rodríguez echoed the same point in a statement: “Donald Trump has been telling us exactly what he will do if he’s reelected and tonight he said he will be a dictator on day one. Americans should believe him.”
Some are wondering if the fear of a more chaotic second term is what keeping his wife, Melania Trump, and daughter Ivanka Trump, out of the campaign trail. The two women are reportedly are not interested in the most bombastic aspects of a new Trump presidency.
Mr. Trump seems to have a strong idea about what a potential return to power would look like in 2025.
