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LetMyPeopleVote

(174,206 posts)
Tue Aug 26, 2025, 02:06 PM Aug 2025

MaddowBlog-Trump on militarized cities: 'A lot of people are saying, 'Maybe we'd like a dictator'

As the president suggests that “a lot” of people have voiced support for “a dictator,” it’s hard not to wonder who, exactly, he was referring to.

Trump on militarized cities: ‘A lot of people are saying, ‘Maybe we’d like a dictator’

www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...

Jonathan-FL #HumanRightsForEVERYONE (@amerliberal.bsky.social) 2025-08-26T02:57:11.389Z

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/trump-militarized-cities-lot-people-are-saying-maybe-d-dictator-rcna227039

He didn’t say the accusations related to tyranny were wrong; he instead suggested the accusations were irrelevant. D.C. is “going to hell,” the Republican falsely claimed, so if that means acting like a “dictator,” so be it.

Eleven days later, he returned to the subject. NBC News reported:

Before signing a series of executive orders aimed at reducing crime in D.C. and across the nation, Trump referred to his critics bashing him for sending the National Guard to D.C., claiming that some people think they might ‘like a dictator.


Referring to those opposed to his threats about deploying troops to American cities, the president, echoing his earlier rhetoric, told reporters, “They say, ‘We don’t need him. Freedom. Freedom. He’s a dictator. He’s a dictator.’”

But then he delivered a more pointed response to his detractors: “A lot of people are saying, ‘Maybe we’d like a dictator.’”

Trump: “They say, ‘We don't need him, freedom freedom. He's a dictator. He's a dictator.’ A lot of people are saying, ‘Maybe we like a dictator’…You send in troops, and instead of being praised they're saying you're trying to take over the republic. These people are sick.”

The Bulwark (@thebulwark.com) 2025-08-25T16:25:38.536Z


,,,,,,In this White House, the ends justify the means — and those who disagree are “sick.”

As for Trump’s contention that “a lot” of people have voiced support for “a dictator,” I have a follow-up question for the president: “Can you name some of these people?”

Ahead of Election Day 2024, Trump talked about “terminating” parts of the Constitution that stand in the way of his ambitions and creating a temporary American “dictatorship.” Months later, the relevance of that rhetoric lingers for increasingly obvious reasons.
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MaddowBlog-Trump on militarized cities: 'A lot of people are saying, 'Maybe we'd like a dictator' (Original Post) LetMyPeopleVote Aug 2025 OP
Americans don't like...................... Lovie777 Aug 2025 #1
No we don't. greatauntoftriplets Aug 2025 #2
The MAGA minority wants a dictator. CousinIT Aug 2025 #3
Strong men with tears in their eyes? BlueWaveNeverEnd Aug 2025 #4
The main problem is that Trump's followers generally don't read... keep_left Aug 2025 #5

Lovie777

(21,558 posts)
1. Americans don't like......................
Tue Aug 26, 2025, 02:11 PM
Aug 2025

we love our freedoms no matter what party or ideology or religion.

CousinIT

(12,148 posts)
3. The MAGA minority wants a dictator.
Tue Aug 26, 2025, 02:41 PM
Aug 2025

My MAGA sister said, "Well, maybe we need a dictator!"

She hates LGBTQ people and wants them shoved back into the closet -- considers them an "abomination". Her MAGA son didn't get a promotion, and she blames immigrants and LGBTQ people for it. She wants to control the bodies of women she doesn't even know (abortion). She wants a dictatorship and SAID SO.

keep_left

(3,143 posts)
5. The main problem is that Trump's followers generally don't read...
Tue Aug 26, 2025, 05:09 PM
Aug 2025

...and so they have little understanding of history. If they did, I would recommend several books by Fromm, Hoffer, and Berman.

The most apropos reading list for the MAGA movement would definitely include Erich Fromm's Escape From Freedom (1941) and Eric Hoffer's The True Believer (1951). Morris Berman's "America Trilogy" would also make the list, beginning with The Twilight of American Culture (1999).

I might even suggest they watch a couple of classic movies, except that so many Americans seem to take the wrong lessons from them (e.g. Oliver Stone's 1983 rewrite of Scarface). And Trump himself is the personification of the "Rocco" character from Key Largo (1948).

Historian/writer Morris Berman has a lot to say about [the "Rocco wants more" scene] from Key Largo and how it is a subtle but effective critique of the dominant American culture: "more" as an ideology. Oliver Stone made the same point in Scarface, this time in Day-Glo, but a cruel irony occurred when some in the counterculture--the hip-hop culture in particular--began to see the Tony Montana character as a hero worthy of emulation.

https://democraticunderground.com/100219840939#post29
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