Column: When the president has to say 'I'm not a dictator,' we're in trouble

Don't be duped by Trump's dictator jokes

Lest anyone think that Donald Trump is the only president to muse about the benefits of a dictatorship, recall that the previous Republican president, George W. Bush, did as well. Following a meeting with congressional leaders days after the Supreme Court essentially declared him the winner of the 2000 presidential election, Bush said, “I told [them] that there are going to be some times where we don’t agree with each other, but that’s OK. If th…

Column: When the president has to say 'I'm not a dictator,' we're in trouble

That's the sort of thing rising dictators tend to say, urging the public to ignore the accumulating evidence.

When the President Has to Say ‘I’m Not a Dictator,’ We’re in Trouble

By Jackie Calmes / Los Angeles Times / Aug. 28, 2025 “I am not a crook,” President Nixon said in 1973. “I’m not a dictator,” President Trump insisted on Monday. And with that, another famously false presidential proclamation entered the annals of memorable statements no president should ever feel compelled to make. [Please go to original for links] It took months more for Nixon’s crimes to force him to resign in 1974 ahead of his all-but-certain…