01:07 - Source: CNN
Trump says this is why he 'wanted to be a dictator'

Editor’s Note: William Cooper is the author of “How America Works … And Why It Doesn’t.” Follow him on Substack @williamowencooper. The opinions expressed in this commentary are his own. Read more opinion at CNN.

CNN  — 

Many thought leaders seem to be terrified that America will plunge into a dictatorship if Donald Trump is reelected in 2024. Writing in The Washington Post recently, leading foreign policy scholar Robert Kagan warned: “In just a few years, we have gone from being relatively secure in our democracy to being a few short steps, and a matter of months, away from the possibility of dictatorship.” According to former Republican Rep. Liz Cheney, one of “the things that we see happening today is a sort of a sleepwalking into dictatorship in the United States.”

Courtesy of William Cooper
William Cooper

Trump himself is on the bandwagon, telling Fox News host Sean Hannity Tuesday night that he would be a dictator, though only on “day one” of his presidency. “We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling,” he said. “After that I’m not a dictator.” Last month, he used the rhetoric of history’s worst dictators against his political opponents, vowing to “root out the communists, Marxists, fascists and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country.”

The widespread fear that Trump will actually be a dictator, however, is misplaced. If Trump wins the 2024 election, American democracy might be suspended, at least temporarily. But it won’t be replaced by a dictatorship, which is a coherent and recognizable system of government. Instead, if Trump wins, my view is that American democracy will be replaced by American “chaosracy” — an incoherent, volatile and unpredictable mix of some government institutions that function democratically and some that don’t.

Trump falsely claimed he won the 2020 election; if he wins in 2024, then America’s president will likely be at war with the central premise of American democracy: that free and fair elections determine who runs the government. Trump might use his presidential powers to thwart elections and undermine the Constitution. American democracy, in its contemporary form, could be suspended until a new president who respects and adheres to the Constitution takes back the White House.

But if Trump wins, he won’t become a dictator. A dictator dictates the workings of government. Merriam Webster defines a dictator as “one holding complete autocratic control: a person with unlimited governmental power.” This is what Trump will want to achieve. But he won’t get anywhere near “complete autocratic control” over American government.

Washington Post columnist Ishaan Tharoor recently cited several examples of tactics many people think Trump would use to become a dictator: “As my colleagues have reported over the past year, Trump has made clear his stark, authoritarian vision for a potential second term. He would embark on a wholesale purge of the federal bureaucracy, weaponize the Justice Department to explicitly go after his political opponents (something he claims is being done to him), stack government agencies across the board with political appointees prescreened as ideological Trump loyalists, and dole out pardons to myriad officials and apparatchiks as incentives to do his bidding or stay loyal.”

There’s a simple problem with these prognostications: Trump can’t actually do these things. The presidential pardon power isn’t broad enough to preemptively immunize widespread criminal activity; political appointees must be confirmed by a majority of the Senate (which would reject Trump’s worst co-conspirators); and the majority of federal officials serve across presidential administrations in a large, powerful and entrenched bureaucracy.

The federal bureaucracy can’t simply be “purged.” Valid federal legislation authorizes and funds government agencies — and powerful unions protect their workers — so the courts won’t allow federal employees to be fired en masse absent duly enacted legislation. Republican presidents have long tried to shrink the administrative state. They’ve failed miserably.

The Department of Justice moreover, didn’t go after Trump’s enemies the last time he was president. To the contrary, the department rejected Trump’s demands to prosecute former President Barack Obama, then-former Vice President Joe Biden, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former FBI Director James Comey, former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe, and others.

The Justice Department did, however, prosecute many of Trump’s friends. Roger Stone was convicted of lying to Congress and threatening a witness. Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in 2017 and asked to withdraw his guilty plea in 2020. Steve Bannon was charged with defrauding investors in his campaign to build a wall at the southern border. Paul Manafort was convicted of tax fraud. And Tom Barrack was acquitted at trial of foreign lobbying charges.

Trump eventually pardoned FlynnBannonStone and Manafort. But the Department of Justice’s lawyers had zealously prosecuted these men.

To imprison his enemies, Trump would need grand juries to indict on his command, courts to rule in his favor and juries to render his chosen verdicts.

The president of the United States doesn’t have power over these things. Grand juries operate under the supervision of the federal courts, not the executive branch. Federal judges sit for life subject to impeachment from Congress. And the only authorities with the power to affect a jury verdict are the trial judge and the appellate courts.

Trump-appointed judges, all confirmed by a majority of the Senate, have shifted the federal courts sharply to the right. But they have also shown their independence and ruled against Trump repeatedly. The Supreme Court allowed a New York prosecutor to receive Trump’s tax returns, denied Trump’s effort to end DACA and rejected Trump’s bid to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

The Senate, furthermore, still has to confirm, by majority vote, all executive-level presidential appointments (including at the Department of Justice). Trump can’t just appoint, for example, Rudy Guliani as attorney general, Steve Bannon as secretary of defense or Michael Flynn as secretary of state. And pardons only apply to federal offenses, offer no protection under state law and may be voided in court if they are preemptive and not specific. They are hardly a license to go about committing major crimes. Just look at Bannon, who was pardoned by Trump in his border wall case and later convicted for refusing to cooperate with the January 6 committee in Congress.

Unlike a dictator, Trump wouldn’t control most government activity — at the federal, state or local level. If the Democrats take the House in 2024, would Trump control how they vote on legislation? Would he force state court judges to govern how he wants them to? Local school boards?

No way. To be a dictatorship, people have to actually do the things the dictator says. Given his historic unpopularity ratings, the resistance to a second Trump term will likely be fierce at every level of government.

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Donald Trump waits to speak at a 9/11 memorial service in 2017.
Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.
Trump at age 4. He was born in 1946 to Fred and Mary Trump in New York City. His father was a real estate developer.
Donald J. Trump for President, Inc.
Trump, left, in a family photo. He was the second-youngest of five children.
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Trump, center, stands at attention during his senior year at the New York Military Academy.
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Trump, center, wears a baseball uniform at the New York Military Academy. After he graduated from the boarding school, he went to college. He started at Fordham University before transferring and later graduating from the Wharton School, the University of Pennsylvania's business school.
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Trump stands with Alfred Eisenpreis, New York's economic development administrator, in 1976 while they look at a sketch of a new 1,400-room renovation project of the Commodore Hotel. After graduating from college in 1968, Trump worked with his father on developments in Queens and Brooklyn before purchasing or building multiple properties in New York and Atlantic City, New Jersey. Those properties included Trump Tower in New York and Trump Plaza and multiple casinos in Atlantic City.
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Trump wears a hard hat at the Trump Tower construction site in New York in 1980.
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Trump and his family, circa 1986. Trump was married to Ivana Zelnicek Trump from 1977 to 1990, when they divorced. They had three children together: Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric.
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Trump uses his personal helicopter to get around New York in 1987.
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Trump stands in the atrium of Trump Tower.
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Trump attends the opening of his new Atlantic City casino, the Taj Mahal, in 1989.
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Trump signs his second book, "Trump: Surviving at the Top," in 1990. Trump has published at least 16 other books, including "The Art of the Deal" and "The America We Deserve."
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Trump dips his second wife, Marla Maples, after the couple married in a private ceremony in New York in December 1993. The couple divorced in 1999 and had one daughter together, Tiffany.
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Trump putts a golf ball in his New York office in 1998.
Bebeto Matthews/AP
Trump attends a news conference in 2005 that announced the establishment of Trump University. From 2005 until it closed in 2010, Trump University had about 10,000 people sign up for a program that promised success in real estate. Three separate lawsuits — two class-action suits filed in California and one filed by New York's attorney general — argued that the program was mired in fraud and deception. In November 2016, just days after winning the presidential election, Trump agreed to settle the lawsuits. He repeatedly denied the fraud claims and said that he could have won at trial, but he said that as president he did not have time and wanted to focus on the country.
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Trump and WWE wrestlers Stone Cold Steve Austin and Bobby Lashley get ready to shave Vince McMahon's head after McMahon lost the main event of the night — "Hair vs. Hair" — between McMahon and Trump in 2007. Trump has close ties with the WWE and McMahon, its CEO. After being elected president, Trump picked McMahon's wife, Linda, to serve as the administrator of the Small Business Administration.
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Trump is seen on set during the season finale of "The Celebrity Apprentice" in 2009.
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Trump poses with Miss Universe contestants in 2011. Trump had been executive producer of the Miss Universe, Miss USA and Miss Teen USA pageants since 1996.
Todd Heisler/The New York Times/Redux
In June 2015, during a speech from Trump Tower, Trump announced that he was running for president. He said he would give up "The Apprentice" to run.
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Trump — flanked by US Sens. Marco Rubio, left, and Ted Cruz — speaks during a CNN debate in March 2016. Trump dominated the GOP primaries and emerged as the presumptive nominee in May of that year.
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Trump delivers a speech at the Republican National Convention in July 2016, accepting the party's nomination for president. "I have had a truly great life in business," he said. "But now, my sole and exclusive mission is to go to work for our country — to go to work for you. It's time to deliver a victory for the American people."
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Trump faces Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton in the first presidential debate, which took place in Hempstead, New York, in September 2016.
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Trump walks on stage with his family after he was declared the election winner in November 2016. "Ours was not a campaign, but rather, an incredible and great movement," he told his supporters in New York.
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Two days after winning the election, Trump meets with President Barack Obama at the White House. Three days after mocking Trump as unfit to control the codes needed to launch nuclear weapons, Obama told his successor that he wanted him to succeed and would do everything he could to ensure a smooth transition. "As I said last night, my No. 1 priority in the next two months is to try to facilitate a transition that ensures our president-elect is successful," Obama said.
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Trump shares a meal in New York with Mitt Romney in November 2016. Trump and his transition team were in the process of filling high-level positions for the new administration, and Romney was reportedly in the running for secretary of state. That job ended up going to Rex Tillerson.
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Trump arrives for his inauguration ceremony in January 2017.
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The new president kisses the first lady as they dance at one of three inaugural balls. The president, known for his affinity of over-the-top gold fixtures, went for classic Americana with a touch of retro glitz.
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Trump shakes hands with FBI Director James Comey during a White House reception in January 2017. Trump fired Comey a few months later, sweeping away the man who was responsible for the FBI's investigation into whether members of Trump's campaign team colluded with Russia in its election interference. The Trump administration attributed Comey's dismissal to his handling of the investigation into Hillary Clinton's email server.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters/Newscom
Trump has a phone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin, one of several world leaders he talked to after taking office. Joining Trump in the Oval Office, from left, were Chief of Staff Reince Priebus, Vice President Mike Pence, senior adviser Steve Bannon, press secretary Sean Spicer and national security adviser Michael Flynn.
Evan Vucci/AP
Trump, in front of a portrait of his 2016 opponent Hillary Clinton, surprises visitors who were touring the White House in March 2017. The tour group, including many young children, cheered and screamed after the president popped out from behind a room divider.
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Trump points at Sergey Kislyak, Russia's ambassador to the United States, while hosting Kislyak and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, left, at the White House in May 2017. The meeting with Lavrov was the highest-level encounter between the US administration and Moscow since Trump's inauguration.
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From right, President Trump, first lady Melania Trump, Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi attend an inauguration ceremony for the Global Center for Combating Extremist Ideology. The facility is in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. See more photos from Trump's first foreign tour in May 2017
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Pope Francis stands with Trump and his family during a private audience at the Vatican in May 2017. Joining the president were his wife and his daughter Ivanka.
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Trump looks up at the sky during the total solar eclipse in August 2017. He eventually put on protective glasses as he watched the eclipse with his wife and their son from the White House South Portico.
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Trump gestures during his State of the Union address in January 2018. Trump declared that the "state of our union is strong because our people are strong. Together, we are building a safe, strong and proud America."
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Trump holds his notes while hosting a listening session with student survivors of mass shootings, their parents and teachers in February 2018. The visible points included prompts such as "1. What would you most want me to know about your experience?" "2. What can we do to help you feel safe?" and "5. I hear you."
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Trump and French President Emmanuel Macron walk to the Oval Office before a meeting at the White House in April 2018. Speaking before US lawmakers from both the Senate and the House, Macron pressed the United States to engage more in global affairs, contrasting with the steps the Trump White House has taken toward isolationism since he came into office.
Tom Brenner/The New York Times/Redux Pictures
Three Americans released by North Korea are welcomed at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland by Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo in May 2018. Kim Dong Chul, Kim Hak-song and Kim Sang Duk, also known as Tony Kim, were freed while Pompeo was visiting North Korea to discuss Trump's upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.
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In this photo provided by the German Government Press Office, German Chancellor Angela Merkel talks with a seated Trump as they are surrounded by other leaders at the G7 summit in Charlevoix, Quebec, in June 2018. According to two senior diplomatic sources, the photo was taken when there was a difficult conversation taking place regarding the G7's communique and several issues the United States had leading up to it.
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Trump sits with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during their historic summit in Singapore in June 2018. It was the first meeting ever between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader. At the end of the summit, they signed a document in which they agreed "to work toward complete denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula." In exchange, Trump agreed to "provide security guarantees" to North Korea.
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A close-up of Trump's shirt cuff reads "45" as he speaks during a Cabinet meeting in June 2018.
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Trump announced in July 2018 that Brett Kavanaugh, foreground, was his choice to replace Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who retired at the end of the month. Kavanaugh, who once clerked for Kennedy, was confirmed in October 2018.
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Trump and Britain's Queen Elizabeth II inspect a guard of honor during Trump's visit to Windsor Castle in July 2018.
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Trump shakes hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the end of their summit in Helsinki, Finland, in July 2018. Afterward, Trump said he believed it had significantly improved relations between the two countries. "Our relationship has never been worse than it is now. However, that changed as of about four hours ago. I really believe that," Trump said during a joint news conference. The Putin meeting was the last part of Trump's weeklong trip to Europe.
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Rapper Kanye West stands up during his Oval Office meeting with Trump in October 2018. West and football legend Jim Brown had been invited for a working lunch to discuss topics such as urban revitalization, workforce training programs and how best to address crime in Chicago.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
A White House staff member reaches for the microphone held by CNN's Jim Acosta as he questions Trump during a news conference in November 2018. Later that day, in a stunning break with protocol, the White House said that it was suspending Acosta's press pass "until further notice." A federal judge later ordered the White House to return Acosta's press pass.
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Donald and Melania Trump join former US presidents and their wives at the state funeral of George H.W. Bush in December 2018. In the front row, from left, are the Trumps, Barack and Michelle Obama, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter.
Doug Mills/The New York Times/Redux
Trump and Vice President Mike Pence meet with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer at the White House in December 2018. In the meeting, part of which was open to the press, Trump clashed with Schumer and Pelosi over funding for a border wall and the threat of a government shutdown. Parts of the federal government did eventually shut down. The shutdown lasted a record 35 days.
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Pelosi and Pence clap during Trump's State of the Union address in February 2019. Because of the record-long government shutdown, Trump's speech came a week later than originally planned.
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Trump boards Air Force One in Kenner, Louisiana, in May 2019.
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Trump shakes hands with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un as the two meet at the Korean Demilitarized Zone in June 2019. Trump briefly stepped over into North Korean territory, becoming the first sitting US leader to set foot in the nation. Trump said he invited Kim to the White House, and both leaders agreed to restart talks after nuclear negotiations stalled.
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Crowds gather around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool to watch Trump speak in July 2019. Trump's "Salute to America" ceremony featured military flyovers, music and a largely apolitical speech that struck a patriotic tone. But the event drew considerable scrutiny in the days leading up to it, as some felt it was politicizing the military. There were also critics who said the event, with its massive VIP section and tickets for political donors, had the sheen of a partisan affair.
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Trump officially launched his re-election campaign with a rally in Orlando in June 2019.
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Trump speaks to the media on the South Lawn of the White House in June 2019.
Erin Schaff/The New York Times/Redux
Trump shares a laugh with UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson during a working breakfast at the G-7 summit in Biarritz, France, in August 2019.
Carlos Barria/Reuters
Melania Trump greets Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau with a kiss on the cheek prior to a group photo at the G-7 summit in August 2019. The photo quickly circulated on social media.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
In September 2019, Trump shows an apparently altered map of Hurricane Dorian's trajectory. The map showed the storm potentially affecting a large section of Alabama. Over the course of the storm's development, Trump erroneously claimed multiple times that Alabama had been in the storm's path.
Andrew Hofstetter/Reuters
Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg watches Trump as he enters the United Nations to speak with reporters in September 2019. Thunberg, 16, didn't mince words as she spoke to world leaders during the UN Climate Action Summit. She accused them of not doing enough to mitigate climate change: "For more than 30 years, the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away?" Trump later mocked Thunberg on Twitter.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky meets with Trump on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in September 2019. A day earlier, the White House released a transcript of a conversation that Trump had in July with Zelensky. According to the transcript, Trump repeatedly pushed for Zelensky to investigate Joe Biden, a former vice president and potential 2020 political rival. There is no evidence of wrongdoing by Biden. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi announced that she would be opening a formal impeachment inquiry on Trump. Trump has insisted he did nothing wrong in his phone call with Zelensky, saying there was "no pressure whatsoever." The House impeached him in December, and the Senate acquitted him in February.
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House Speaker Nancy Pelosi points at Trump during a contentious White House meeting in October 2019. Democratic leaders were there for a meeting about Syria, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said they walked out when Trump went on a diatribe and "started calling Speaker Pelosi a third-rate politician." Pelosi said, "What we witnessed on the part of the president was a meltdown." Trump later tweeted this photo, taken by White House photographer Shealah Craighead, with the caption "Nervous Nancy's unhinged meltdown!" Pelosi then made it the cover photo for her own Twitter account.
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Trump holds his notes while speaking to the media in November 2019. Trump repeatedly said he told Gordon Sondland, the US ambassador to the European Union, that he wanted "nothing" on Ukraine. "I say to the Ambassador in response: I want nothing, I want nothing. I want no quid pro quo," Trump said, reading from notes that appeared to be written in Sharpie. "Tell Zelensky, President Zelensky, to do the right thing."
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Trump holds up a newspaper at the National Prayer Breakfast in February 2020. It was a day after he was acquitted in his impeachment trial.
Doug Mills/The New York Times/Redux
Trump looks at a coronavirus model while touring the National Institutes of Health in March 2020.
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A close-up of Trump's notes shows where the word "Corona" was crossed out and replaced with "Chinese" as he speaks about the coronavirus at the White House in March 2020. After consulting with medical experts and receiving guidance from the World Health Organization, CNN determined that the term "Chinese virus" is inaccurate and considered stigmatizing.
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Trump ripped into NBC News' Peter Alexander, seated, during a White House coronavirus briefing in March 2020. Alexander had asked Trump whether he was giving Americans "false hope" by touting unproven coronavirus drugs. Toward the end of the exchange, Alexander cited the latest pandemic statistics showing thousands of Americans are now infected and millions are scared. Alexander asked, "What do you say to Americans who are scared?" Trump shook his head. "I say that you are a terrible reporter," he replied. "That's what I say." The president then launched into a rant against Alexander, NBC and its parent company, Comcast. "You're doing sensationalism," Trump charged. 
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Trump hands a pen to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell during a bill-signing ceremony for the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act in March 2020.
Alex Brandon/AP
Trump leaves the White House Rose Garden following a coronavirus briefing in April 2020. During the briefing, Trump threatened to leave after Playboy correspondent and CNN analyst Brian Karem attempted to ask a question about social distancing. "Quiet. Quiet." Trump said. When Karem continued to ask his question Trump interjected, "If you keep talking, I'll leave and you can have it out with the rest of these people. If you keep talking, I'm going to leave and you can have it out with them. Just a loudmouth." It wasn't the first time Trump had lashed out at a reporter during a coronavirus briefing. He has vented his frustrations on several occasions.
Alex Brandon/AP
Trump tours the Ypsilanti Ford plant, which was making ventilators and personal protective equipment during the coronavirus pandemic.
Kevin Lamarque/Reuters
Dr. Anthony Fauci, director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, looks down as Trump speaks in the White House Rose Garden in May 2020. Trump was unveiling Operation Warp Speed, a program aimed at developing a coronavirus vaccine by the end of the year.
Patrick Semansky/AP
Trump holds a Bible outside St. John's Episcopal Church during a photo op in Washington, DC, in June 2020. Part of the church was set on fire during protests the night before. Before Trump's photo op, police cleared out peaceful protesters with rubber bullets, tear gas and flash bangs.
Doug Mills/The New York Times/Redux
Trump arrives at his campaign rally in Tulsa, Oklahoma, in June 2020. It was his first rally since the start of the coronavirus pandemic, and the indoor venue generated concerns about the potential spread of the virus. About 6,200 people showed up to the BOK Center, which seats 19,199.
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Trump arrives at Mount Rushmore for his Independence Day celebration in Keystone, South Dakota, in July 2020.
Patrick Semansky/AP
Trump wears a face mask in July 2020 as he visits the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland. This was the first time since the pandemic began that the White House press corps got a glimpse of Trump with a face covering.
Evan Vucci/AP
Trump plays catch with former New York Yankees pitcher Mariano Rivera as he greets youth baseball players on the South Lawn of the White House in July 2020.
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Trump signs executive orders extending coronavirus economic relief in August 2020. It came after Democrats and the White House were unable to reach an agreement on a stimulus bill.
Tom Brenner/Reuters
Supporters look on as Trump delivers remarks at a rally in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, in August 2020.
Evan Vucci/AP
Trump is accompanied by the first lady as he arrives for his nomination acceptance speech in August 2020. "I stand before you tonight honored by your support, proud of the extraordinary progress we have made together over the last four incredible years, and brimming with confidence in the bright future we will build for America over the next four years," Trump said in his speech, which closed the Republican National Convention.
Doug Mills/The New York Times/Redux
Lightning flashes as Trump exits Air Force One in August 2020. He was returning from a campaign rally in Londonderry, New Hampshire.
Evan Vucci/AP
Trump arrives to speak at a campaign rally in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, in September 2020.
J. Scott Applewhite/AP
Trump and the first lady pay respects to Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in September 2020. The president was booed as he appeared near the coffin.
Yuri Gripas/Abaca Press/Reuters
Judge Amy Coney Barrett reacts as Trump introduces her as his Supreme Court nominee in September 2020. She was confirmed a month later by a Senate vote of 52-48.
Ken Cedeno/Reuters
Trump speaks to the White House press corps after the New York Times reported that he paid no federal income taxes in 10 out of 15 years beginning in 2000. Trump denied the story and claimed that he pays "a lot" in federal income taxes.
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Trump and Democratic nominee Joe Biden take part in the first presidential debate in September 2020. At center is moderator Chris Wallace, who had his hands full as the debate often devolved into shouting, rancor and cross talk that sometimes made it impossible to follow what either candidate was talking about.
Alex Edelman/AFP/Getty Images
On October 2, the president tweeted that he and his wife had tested positive for the coronavirus. He was flown to Walter Reed Medical Center, and he stayed at the hospital for three nights, receiving medical treatment. Trump briefly left the hospital to wave to his supporters from the back of an SUV. A Secret Service agent is seen in the front seat wearing a full medical gown, a respirator mask and a face shield.
Anna Moneymaker/The New York Times/Redux
Despite his doctors saying he was "not out of the woods yet," Trump removes his mask for a photo-op upon returning to the White House.
Alex Brandon/AP
Trump, in his first public event since he was diagnosed with Covid-19, gives a campaign-style speech from the balcony of the White House on October 10, 2020.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Trump tosses face masks to the crowd as he takes the stage for a campaign rally in Sanford, Florida, on October 12, 2020.
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Trump speaks to NBC News' Savannah Guthrie at his town-hall event in Miami in October 2020. Trump and Biden held separate town halls instead of debating each other in a town-hall format. The schedule change came about after Trump was diagnosed with the coronavirus. The Commission on Presidential Debates proposed a virtual debate, but Trump refused to take part and Biden went ahead with plans for his own town hall. Trump's campaign later arranged its own town hall — on a different network, during the same hour.
Patrick Semansky/AP
Trump speaks during his second debate with Biden. Because the first debate quickly descended into a glorified shouting match, the Commission on Presidential Debates instituted an unprecedented change this time around: The candidates had their microphones cut off while their opponent responded to the first question of each of the debate's six segments.
Evan Vucci/AP
Trump walks with first lady Melania Trump after a day of campaign rallies in Michigan, Wisconsin and Nebraska in October 2020.
Evan Vucci/AP
Trump speaks at the White House after Election Day came and went without a winner. Trump attacked legitimate vote-counting efforts in his remarks, suggesting that attempts to tally all ballots amounted to disenfranchising his supporters. He baselessly claimed a fraud was being committed. "Frankly we did win this election," he said, despite millions of votes still outstanding. A few days later, Biden was projected as the actual winner.
Joshua Roberts/Reuters
Trump plays golf in Sterling, Virginia, in November 2020. He was at the course when Joe Biden was projected as the winner of the presidential election.
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Trump, days after losing the presidential election, prepares to deliver an update on the administration's coronavirus efforts. He inched closer to acknowledging he would not be president after January 20, though he stopped well short of recognizing his loss. "This administration will not be doing a lockdown," he said. "Hopefully whatever happens in the future — who knows which administration it will be? I guess time will tell — but I can tell you this administration will not go to a lockdown," Trump said in the White House Rose Garden.
Jacquelyn Martin/AP
Trump arrives to speak to supporters at a rally in Washington, DC, in January 2021. His speech included calls for his vice president to step outside his constitutional bounds and overturn the results of the election. A short time later, Trump supporters breached the US Capitol while Congress was meeting to certify the Electoral College's votes for president and vice president. The Capitol was put on lockdown and the certification vote was paused after the rioters stormed the building.
Gerald Herbert/AP
Trump talks to the media at the White House one day before he was impeached for a second time. Ten House Republicans joined House Democrats in voting for impeachment, exactly one week after pro-Trump rioters ransacked the US Capitol. The impeachment resolution charged Trump with "incitement of insurrection." Trump likened the impeachment push to a "witch hunt." He said the speech he gave to his supporters on January 6, the day the Capitol was breached, was "totally appropriate." He was acquitted on February 12, 2021.
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Trump waves goodbye as he boards Marine One for the last time in January 2021.
Alex Edelman/AFP/Getty Images
Trump acknowledges his children and other family members on the tarmac of Joint Base Andrews before heading to Florida and skipping the inauguration of Joe Biden. "I will always fight for you," he said in front of a crowd of family and friends. "I will be watching. I will be listening, and I will tell you that the future of this country has never been better. I wish the new administration great luck and great success. I think they'll have great success. They have the foundation to do something really spectacular."
Erin Schaff/The New York Times/Redux
Trump prepares to speak at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando in February 2021. He was making his first public remarks since leaving the White House.
Travis Dove/The New York Times/Redux
Trump speaks at a Republican convention in Greenville, North Carolina, in June 2021. During his speech, Trump baselessly claimed that his election defeat was "the crime of the century."
Gaelen Morse/Reuters
Trump holds his first post-presidency rally at the Lorain County Fairgrounds in Wellington, Ohio, in June 2021.
Mark Abramson/The New York Times/Redux
Trump is seen in the reflection of a camera lens as he appears at the National Rifle Association's annual convention in May 2022. Trump — and other GOP leaders who spoke at the event in Houston — rejected efforts to overhaul gun laws, and they mocked Democrats and activists calling for change.
Brendan McDermid/Reuters
Trump is seen with former first lady Melania Trump and several other family members as they attend the funeral of his first wife, Ivana, in New York in July 2022.
Julia Nikhinson/AP
Trump gestures as he departs Trump Tower in New York in August 2022. He was on his way to the New York attorney general's office, where he invoked the Fifth Amendment at a scheduled deposition. Trump was to be deposed as part of a more than three-year civil investigation into whether the Trump Organization misled lenders, insurers and tax authorities by providing them misleading financial statements. Trump and the Trump Organization have previously denied any wrongdoing.
Jonathan Ernst/Reuters
Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach, Florida, on Tuesday, November 15. He announced that he will seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2024.
Seth Wenig/Pool/AP
Trump sits with his defense team at his arraignment in New York in April 2023. The former president pleaded not guilty to 34 felony criminal charges of falsifying business records. It was the first time in history that a current or former US president had been criminally charged. He was convicted in May 2024.
Will Lanzoni/CNN
Trump waves to supporters as his motorcade leaves a federal courthouse in Miami in June 2023. Special counsel Jack Smith brought charges against Trump in a case alleging mishandling of classified documents. Trump pleaded not guilty.
Alex Brandon/AP
Trump speaks before boarding a plane in Arlington, Virginia, in August 2023. Trump pleaded not guilty to four criminal charges related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.
Fulton County Sheriff's Office
This booking photo of Trump was taken in Atlanta in August 2023. Trump was booked on more than a dozen charges stemming from his efforts to reverse Georgia's 2020 election results. His booking number was P01135809. He is the first former US president with a mug shot.
Shannon Stapleton/Reuters
Trump attends closing arguments in the civil fraud trial against him, his two adult sons, the Trump Organization and several company executives in January 2024. In September 2023, Judge Arthur Engoron found Trump and his co-defendants liable for fraud for grossly inflating asset valuations on financial statements. The ruling was a significant victory for New York Attorney General Letitia James, who brought a lawsuit alleging that Trump and his co-defendants committed repeated fraud in inflating assets on financial statements to get better terms on commercial real estate loans and insurance policies.
Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images
Trump delivers remarks at a campaign rally in Manchester, New Hampshire, in January 2024. Trump won the New Hampshire primary, moving closer to his third straight presidential nomination and a rematch with President Joe Biden in the fall.
Rebecca Blackwell/AP
Trump speaks at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Palm Beach, Florida, in February 2024, after Engoron ordered Trump and his companies to pay nearly $355 million in the New York civil fraud case. Trump is also barred from serving as an officer or director of any New York corporation or other legal entity in the state for three years.
Jabin Botsford/Pool/Getty Images
Trump appears with his legal team at the start of his hush money trial, the first criminal trial of a former US president, in April 2024.
Justin Lane/Pool/Reuters
Trump leaves the Manhattan Criminal Court in New York after he was found guilty in his hush money trial in May 2024. Trump was found guilty on 34 charges of falsifying business records, making him the first former president in American history to be convicted of a felony.
Will Lanzoni/CNN
Trump and Biden take part in a CNN presidential debate in June 2024. It was the first time in history that a sitting US president faced a former president in a debate. Biden's poor performance later led to him withdrawing from the race.
Evan Vucci/AP
Trump, with blood on his face, raises his fist to the crowd as he is surrounded by Secret Service agents at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July 2024. Trump was injured in a shooting that the FBI said was an assassination attempt.
Will Lanzoni/CNN
Trump looks at his running mate, Sen. JD Vance, during the Republican National Convention in July 2024, just two days after surviving the assassination attempt.
Will Lanzoni/CNN
Trump speaks at the Republican National Convention in July 2024. It was the first time he had spoken directly to the public since the assassination attempt. "I stand before you in this arena only by the grace of almighty God," he said.
Win McNamee/Getty Images/File
A countdown clock over debate moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis shows how much time Trump has left to answer a question during his presidential debate with Vice President Kamala Harris in September 2024. Harris became the Democratic Party's nominee not long after Biden dropped out of the race.

The one way Trump could actually achieve a dictatorship is if he commandeered the military to use force — or its threat — throughout the country on his behalf. But there’s no reason whatsoever to think he could pull that off. Trump has long had strained relations with military leaders, including his secretaries of defense John Mattis and Mark Esper and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley.

As we saw with Milley — who actively opposed Trump’s attempt to reverse the 2020 presidential election results — military leaders won’t just obey Trump’s illegal initiatives. The military doesn’t “take an oath to a wannabe dictator,” Milley said in his departing speech last September. “We take an oath to the Constitution and we take an oath to the idea that is America — and we’re willing to die to protect it.”

The idea that the military would help Trump conquer all of American government and become a dictator is, frankly, absurd.

Thus, if Trump wins in 2024 there would be neither American democracy nor American dictatorship. There would, instead, be American “chaosracy.” American government would likely descend into chaos.

Trump would have an ironclad grip on some things, such as international diplomacy and statehouses dominated by his loyalists. He would have some control in other areas, such as executive branch policies and initiatives. And he’d have little to no control over everything else, such as the daily workings of the state courts and Democrat-run state governments.

Where he had control, he would do harm. Where he did not, he would face resistance.

The sum total of this explosive mixture would be very dangerous, especially internationally, where sober and rational American leadership is essential. As former CIA Director and Defense Secretary Robert Gates wrote recently in a Foreign Affairs essay, “The United States finds itself in a uniquely treacherous position: facing aggressive adversaries with a propensity to miscalculate yet incapable of mustering the unity and strength necessary to dissuade them.”

This dynamic would get exponentially worse if Trump were back in the saddle.

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The last thing America or the world needs is a return to Trump’s me-first, reality-television-inspired brand of belligerent and incoherent foreign policy, so there’s lots to be worried about if Trump wins.

To be sure, he could deeply poison the body politic. He could trash the Constitution. He could break the law. He could go after his enemies. And he could destabilize the international order.

But he would not be a dictator. Not even close.