{"id":1028471,"date":"2023-12-07T01:42:51","date_gmt":"2023-12-07T01:42:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/?p=1028471"},"modified":"2024-05-16T18:12:46","modified_gmt":"2024-05-16T18:12:46","slug":"republicans-silent-after-trump-says-he-would-be-a-day-one-dictator","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/republicans-silent-after-trump-says-he-would-be-a-day-one-dictator\/","title":{"rendered":"Republicans Silent After Trump Says He Would Be a \u201cDay One\u201d Dictator"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In response to Republicans refusing to condemn Donald Trump\u2019s admission last night that he intends to be a dictator right out of the gate, DNC National Press Secretary Sarafina Chitika released the following statement: <\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cNikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, and Vivek Ramaswamy owe the American people an answer on the debate stage tonight as to why they\u2019re implicitly supporting the Republican frontrunner\u2019s assertion he would be a dictator on day one if reelected president. Any serious candidate for president should be brave enough to call out this anti-American, authoritarian threat for what it is. Trump\u2019s comments last night were the latest in his extreme pattern of dangerous ploys to once again undermine our democratic institutions, and Republicans from the presidential campaign trail to Congress are doing this country a disservice by remaining quiet. Whether or not 2024 Republicans grow a backbone and a conscience, the American people will reject these disqualifying comments just as they\u2019ll reject MAGA extremism up and down the ballot next November.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Donald Trump last night said he would be a dictator \u201con day one\u201d if he is reelected president in November 2024.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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New York Times<\/a>: \u201cTwice during a town hall on \u2018Fox News\u2019 on Tuesday night, Sean Hannity asked former President Donald J. Trump to say categorically that he would not abuse presidential power and retaliate against his political opponents if elected next year. Both times, Mr. Trump declined to give an outright denial.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018Do you in any way have any plans whatsoever, if re-elected president, to abuse power?\u2019 Mr. Hannity asked. \u2018To break the law? To use the government to go after people?\u2019 Mr. Trump, the front-runner for the Republican presidential nomination, deflected.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump<\/a>: \u201cHe says, \u2018You\u2019re not going to be a dictator, are you?\u2019 I said, \u2018No, no, no, other than day one.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Associated Press<\/a>: \u201cTrump declines to rule out abusing power to seek retribution if he returns to the White House\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

MSNBC<\/a>: \u201cAccording to Trump\u2019s own on-air comments, he envisions a near-future in which he runs for the nation\u2019s highest office, wins, creates a temporary dictatorship, pursues some goals he considers worthwhile, and then voluntarily agrees to start honoring the United States\u2019 constitutional system of government again.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Magazine<\/a>: \u201cThis exchange is best understood as Trump enjoying the idea of himself as dictator. Trump has always admired dictators and has longed to be granted the obsequious deference they are afforded. <\/strong>As president, his favorite moments were trips to places like North Korea, where he spoke admiringly about the way his counterparties were treated. (\u2018He\u2019s the head of the country,\u2019 Trump said of Kim Jong-un. \u2018And I mean, he\u2019s the strong head. Don\u2019t let anyone think anything different. \u2026 He speaks and his people sit up at attention. I want my people to do the same.\u2019)\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

John Berman, CNN<\/a>: \u201cDo you have any plans to abuse power, break the law, or go after people, and here’s the thing, Van, we timed it. He didn’t answer that question for five minutes. For five minutes, he obfuscated, didn’t give a yes or a no for five minutes, and when he finally did answer, the answer was, \u2018dictator on day one.\u2019\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bret Baier, Fox News<\/a>: \u201cThe former president has said some things that if any other former president had said them, people would be freaking out about. <\/strong>About what he’s going to do, retribution, going after political opponents, DOJ.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Doug Heye, CNN<\/a>: \u201cThat is what we’ve come to expect from Donald Trump. He always says the quiet part not out loud \u2014 very, very loud. And I think that we know that you can’t be a dictator on day one, and then day two revert back to democracy. Day one is going to last for a long time.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joe Scarborough, MSNBC<\/a>: \u201cIf any other politician in American history were asked the question, \u2018Are you gonna be a dictator,\u2019 no. Donald Trump never answered it. He never answered it.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Trump has repeatedly exhibited an undemocratic and dictatorial style of leadership that he\u2019s promised to double down on if he regains power.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Atlantic<\/a>: \u201cFrom Trump himself and the people around him, we have a fair idea of a second Trump administration\u2019s immediate priorities: (1) Stop all federal and state cases against Trump, criminal and civil. (2) Pardon and protect those who tried to overturn the 2020 election on Trump\u2019s behalf. (3) Send the Department of Justice into action against Trump adversaries and critics. (4) End the independence of the civil service and fire federal officials who refuse to carry out Trump\u2019s commands. (5) If these lawless actions ignite protests in American cities, order the military to crush them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New York Times<\/a>: \u201cMr. Trump\u2019s violent and authoritarian rhetoric on the 2024 campaign trail has attracted growing alarm and comparisons to historical fascist dictators and contemporary populist strongmen. In recent weeks, he has dehumanized his adversaries as \u2018vermin\u2019 who must be \u2018rooted out,\u2019 declared that immigrants are \u2018poisoning the blood of our country,\u2019 encouraged the shooting of shoplifters and suggested that the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mark Milley, deserved to be executed for treason.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Guardian<\/a>: \u201cDonald Trump says he will lock up his political enemies if he is president again.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ABC News<\/a>: \u201cTwo days after Election Day, President Donald Trump on Thursday called for vote counting to be stopped in key states that could soon determine the election’s outcome — contradicting his campaign’s argument that vote counting in battleground Arizona — where he was leading — should continue because winning that state would give him a viable path to keep the White House.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Associated Press<\/a>: \u201cThe House Jan. 6 committee\u2019s final report asserts that Donald Trump criminally engaged in a \u2018multi-part conspiracy\u2019 to overturn the lawful results of the 2020 presidential election and failed to act to stop his supporters from attacking the Capitol.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Forbes<\/a>: \u201cTrump said of his relationships with dictators, \u2018the tougher and meaner they are, the better I get along with them,\u2019 which he insisted is \u2018not a bad thing.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201c\u2018The easy ones,\u2019 Trump said, referring to America\u2019s allies, \u2018I maybe don’t like as much or don’t get along with as much.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Trump\u2019s extreme rhetoric last night came after he used a speech last month to parrot words uttered by the likes of Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Washington Post<\/a>: \u201cTrump calls political enemies \u2018vermin,\u2019 echoing dictators Hitler, Mussolini\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Messenger<\/a>: \u201cThe former president has come under scrutiny for a Veteran’s Day speech during which he called Democrats \u2018vermin,\u2019 promised to \u2018root out\u2019 the \u2018radical left thugs\u2019 in the country and suggested those who disagree with him politically pose a larger threat to the U.S. than Russia, China and North Korea.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHistorians have linked the comments, which Trump later reiterated in a post on Truth Social, to language used by dictators, such as Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Axios<\/a>: \u201cWhy it matters: Some historians have compared Trump’s dehumanizing language \u2014 including his claim that undocumented immigrants are \u2018poisoning the blood of our country\u2019 \u2014 to the rhetoric of fascist dictators like Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In response to Republicans refusing to condemn Donald Trump\u2019s admission last night that he intends to be a dictator right out of the gate, DNC National Press Secretary Sarafina Chitika released the following statement:  \u201cNikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, and Vivek Ramaswamy owe the American people an answer on the debate stage tonight as to why they\u2019re […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1028471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-press-release"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nRepublicans Silent After Trump Says He Would Be a \u201cDay One\u201d Dictator - Democrats<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/republicans-silent-after-trump-says-he-would-be-a-day-one-dictator\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Democrats\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-12-07T01:42:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-05-16T18:12:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/War-Room-Master-Image.png?w=1024\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Claire DePree\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Claire DePree\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/republicans-silent-after-trump-says-he-would-be-a-day-one-dictator\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/democrats.org\/news\/republicans-silent-after-trump-says-he-would-be-a-day-one-dictator\/\",\"name\":\"Republicans Silent After Trump Says He Would Be a \u201cDay One\u201d Dictator - 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