[ethanbond]

I am literally stating what he literally stated.

And I don't think the surprise win of 2016 with no GOP machinery backing him out of the gate is going to be a good analog to the preparations that are ongoing right now. He will have far, far more capable people around him, a sense of revenge, and nothing to lose.

The correct answer to "Will you be a dictator?" when asked to a US presidential candidate, is "No." The fact that ridiculous question even had to be asked, and came from someone throwing him a softball (Hannity), and he still couldn't answer it correctly are all serious alarm bells.

[gruez]

> I am literally stating what he literally stated.

And if you look what he said in full context it doesn't seem that bad?

>"You are promising America tonight you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?" Hannity asked.

>"Except for Day One," Trump said.

>When asked to clarify, Trump said he would use the presidency to close the border and increase oil drilling in the U.S.

>"That is not retribution," Hannity said.

>"I love this guy. He says, 'You're not going to be a dictator, are you?' I said, 'No, no, no. Other than Day One.' We're closing the border, and we're drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I'm not a dictator," Trump said.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/donald-trump-sean-hannity-dicta...

I agree that it's not a great thing to say as a presidential candidate, but it's tenuous to go from that to "he's going to go full dictator like Xi Jinping/Putin/Maduro/Orban".

[ethanbond]

I didn’t say he is going to (especially not successfully). I said two things:

1) he is clearly authoritarian (adjective) and

2) there are several answers other than self-control or lack of willpower/desire that could explain the fact he didn’t successfully “become a dictator” in his first term, and some of those components have changed dramatically between then and now