The Trump "dictator" comments are even worse than you think
On softballs.
Sean Hannity knows a gravy train when he sees one.
And so, early on in the presidential campaign of Donald Trump, the Fox News host latched on to the flamboyant billionaire. It’s been a good ride for Hannity. With Tucker Carlson ousted, he is the most recognizable face on the most popular cable TV network in the country.
His relationship with Trump has yielded untold interviews and access — all of which have helped cement him as one of the pillars of the conservative firmament. (And made him piles of money!)
To protect his investment in Trump, Hannity regularly runs interference for the former president. Sometimes that comes in the form of dismissing the charges against him as the work of a weaponized Justice Department. Or focusing the Fox audience’s attention on something Joe Biden did or said rather than Trump’s latest problems. Or even, in some cases, prompting Trump to say things to get him out of his own self-created trouble.
Which brings me to the townhall Hannity did with Trump in Iowa on Tuesday night. And one specific narrative that he wanted to disrupt about Trump.
The storyline of the last few weeks — pushed by terrific reporting in the New York Times — is that Trump has an ambitious and authoritarian-ish agenda already in place for if he wins next November. That agenda includes a purge in the civil service aimed at installing more Trump loyalists, a targeting of his political enemies by the Justice Department and a promise of investigating and penalizing media companies that don’t report the news the way Trump would like.
The question — or at least one of the questions — surrounding Trump is: Does he really want to be a dictator?
Hannity, who is not dumb, knows that to have a question like that floating unanswered in the political ether is not exactly music to the ears of independent voters Trump probably needs to win.
So he decided to use his platform — and his relationship with Trump — to steer the candidate in the right direction. Here’s how it went:
HANNITY: We almost have to go to a break. I want to go back to this one issue, though, because the media has been focused on this and attacking you --
TRUMP: Yeah.
HANNITY: -- under no circumstances. You are promising America tonight. You would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?
TRUMP: Except for day one.
HANNITY: Except, what?
TRUMP: He's going crazy. Except for day one.
HANNITY: Meaning?
TRUMP: I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill.
HANNITY: That's not -- that's not retribution. I got it.
TRUMP: I'm going to be -- I'm going to be, you know, he keeps -- we love those 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.
HANNITY: Well, that sounds to me like you're going back to the policies when you're a president.
TRUMP: Exactly.
You see what Hannity is trying to do. He’s trying, desperately, to get Trump on the record against being a dictator, against using his office to engage in a campaign of political retribution.
In his question, he’s TELLING Trump what the right answer is — “You are promising America tonight. You would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?”
All Trump has to say is “No, I would never abuse power as retribution against anybody.” Or “No, I am not going to be a dictator.”
It’s RIGHT there for him. This is the softball of all softballs. Trump knows what Hannity wants him to do. And knows how easy it would be to do it.
And then he doesn’t do it. In fact, he does the exact opposite.
Far from ruling out entirely that he would use his office to exact vengeance, Trump says he will in fact DO SO — but only on the first day of his administration.
And rather than rule OUT the idea that he would be a dictator in office, Trump says he will, in fact, be a dictator but, again, only on the first day he is back in office.
Hannity, sensing disaster, tried — in the moment — to reframe what Trump just said as something different than what he had just said. “Well, that sounds to me like you're going back to the policies when you're a president,” Hannity said. To which Trump responded: “Exactly.”
Just to be clear here: Hannity walks Trump down to the (metaphorical) water. He dips a cup in, fills it and hands it to Trump. He makes the “drinky drinky” motion. And then Trump takes the water cup and throws its contents in Hannity’s face.
All kidding aside, how about Sean Hannity having to squeeze him to say he won’t be a dictator? I mean, how clear does Trump have to make it? Hannity was like, ‘Eh, want to take another stab at that one, bro?’ ‘Nope!’
Make no mistake: Trump knew exactly what he was doing. He purposely refused to say the words Hannity wanted him to say — that he wasn’t going to rule as an authoritarian if he is voted back into power.
He’s done this sort of thing before. In one of the 2020 general election debates with Joe Biden, Trump was asked by moderator Chris Wallace whether he condemned white supremacists and militia groups. Biden interjected that the Proud Boys were one of them.
To which Trump responded: “Proud Boys, stand back and stand by.”
Which, like, WTF? The answer should have been “Yes, I condemn the Proud Boys and all other white supremacist and militia groups.” Easy.
There are two basic theories for why Trump refuses to do these sorts of things.
He doesn’t like to be told what he can say or do — and has a natural contrarian streak that leads him to reject conventional wisdom
He actually believes what he says
This gets us back to the old do we take Trump literally or seriously debate. Which, to my mind, is pointless. Regardless of WHY you refuse to rule out being a dictator, you are refusing to rule out being a dictator.
Which is exactly what Trump did. Despite the best efforts of Sean Hannity.
And as my wife and I were just discussing, the “except on day one” comment, coupled with last week’s “vermin” and “polluting the blood of our nation” comments, simply won’t make a difference with his base. Maybe because the media sources they follow are apologists for Trump, maybe because they’re too stupid to understand the historical implications, etc.
Or maybe, even more frighteningly, they get it and they approve! While I know that we would be incorrect in assuming that ALL of Trump’s base can be characterized this way, I think it’s reasonable to say that the vast majority of his base are white people who are struggling, financially, career-wide, with a limited future, and are aggrieved at “The Other”, whom they blame for their lack of the success they believe they deserve and see a “champion” and “savior” in Trump. They hear him say “I am your retribution”, and they LOVE it!
After all, the significance of “Make America Great Again” is the “Again” part. And when was America the “Great” they reference to? When we were a predominantly white nation, with whites holding “good” jobs and those of color doing the menial work that would be “below the dignity” of a white man to perform, when women stayed at home and were subservient to men, when sports stars were predominantly white, when our leaders were primarily white.
They’re willing to trust Trump to make their lives “right” because he’s “one of them” and has their same interests at heart. For them, this American Democracy thing hasn’t worked out so well, so giving it up in order to get their revenge seems like a reasonable bargain.
Scares the hell out of me.
You know, if it acts like a duck, sounds like a duck, looks like a duck, guess what? It’s an F’n DUCK!!!