In an interview with the Fox News host Sean Hannity on Tuesday, the former President Donald Trump was asked if he would become a dictator if re-elected as many of his critics now claim.
Trump replied that he would not except for on “day one.”
On that day, he said that he would close the border and “drill, drill, drill” meaning energy independence.
Here’s the clip:
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“Except for day one,” Trump said. “I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill…We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, after that I’m not a dictator.”
When CNN’s Poppy Harlow and Alayna Treene later focused on his dictator quip, guest Lee Carter said the news outlet was deceptively leaving out the full context.
Harlow said, “Donald Trump, I think, made clear on his remarks about ‘I’d only be a dictator on day one,’ exactly what President Biden is talking about in terms of preserving democracy.”
Carter replied, “Well, to be fair that soundbite, out of context is terrifying, but when you hear what he was trying to say overall, he was kind of, sort of, like, as some communicators do, lean into criticism and say, ‘I’ll only be a dictator in as much as I’m going to close the borders and I’m going to start drilling for oil again, after that, no, I promise you I’m not going to do anything.”
“Are you saying people shouldn’t believe him?” Harlow asked. “Look at the policies he’s laid out.”
‘That’s what people like about him by the way’
Carter explained, “Well what I’m saying is I don’t think that what he meant to say was ‘I’m really going to be a dictator in that moment.’ That’s not what he was saying, he was saying ‘I’m going to be a dictator on day one under these two terms.’”
“And I think the American people, and certainly his supporters, aren’t going to hear him as saying ‘I was going to be a dictator,’” he continued. “This is very much like in 2016, everybody said he’s an outsider, he’s got no experience, and he’s like ‘Yeah, I’m an outsider with no experience I’m gonna blow things up in D.C.’”
“He’s got that kind of a way about him,” Carter added.
“And he did,” Harlow shot back.
“He did,” Carter responded. “And that’s what people like about him by the way.”
The Associated Press reported that “Trump campaign aides said Thursday that the former president was simply trying to trigger the left and the media with his dictator comment, while also seeking to focus attention on the influx of migrants at the border and stubborn inflation, two vulnerabilities for President Joe Biden heading into the 2024 general election.”
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