Trump: “I’m not a dictator”

In the Oval Office, Donald Trump defended his use of the National Guard in Washington D.C. as well as his threat to send federal troops to Chicago.

Asked about accusations of a possible authoritarian drift on his part, Trump asserted that he was “not a dictator”.

He added, however, that “a lot of people” might prefer to live under an authoritarian regime.

Trump noted that some people refer to him as a dictator, while others would, he said, show a certain fascination with this mode of governance: “A lot of people are saying: maybe we’d like a dictator.“

In the end, the president stressed that, in his view, this simply doesn’t concern him:

“I don’t like a dictator. I’m not a dictator. I’m a man with great common sense, and I’m a smart person.”