President Trump publicly denied being a dictator while daily exhibiting behaviors that suggest he aspires to autocratic rule. Republican congressional leaders have relinquished constitutional checks by ceding authority over spending, tariffs, appointments and more, leaving insufficient legislative resistance. Lower federal courts occasionally constrain executive excesses, but a highly deferential Supreme Court often validates expansive presidential power. MAGA supporters prioritize personal loyalty to Trump over institutional norms, and a Public Religion Research Institute poll found 52% of Americans view Trump as a dangerous dictator needing limits while 81% of Republicans opposed such limits. Calls for a broad civic response have intensified amid these threats.
I am not a crook, President Nixon said in 1973. I'm not a dictator, President Trump insisted on Monday. And with that, another famously false presidential proclamation entered the annals of memorable statements no president should ever feel compelled to make. It took months more for Nixon's crimes to force him to resign in 1974 ahead of his all-but-certain removal by Congress. But a half-century later, Trump is unabashedly showing every day that he really does aspire to be a dictator.
A lot of people are saying maybe we like a dictator, he said. Alas, for once Trump isn't wrong. MAGA Republicans are loyal to the man, not the party, and give Trump the sort of support no president in memory has enjoyed. A poll from the independent Public Religion Research Institute earlier this year showed that a majority of Americans 52% agreed that Trump is a dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before he destroys American democracy.
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