During an interview aired Sunday, Fox News host Maria Bartiromo gave former President Donald Trump a chance to explain away his remarks in a December town hall that he’d only be a dictator on “day one.”
Trump brushed it off: “It was with Sean Hannity, and we were having fun, and I said ‘I’m going to be a dictator,’ because he asked me, ‘Are you really going to be a dictator?’ I said ‘Absolutely, I’m going to be a dictator for one day.’”
Facing dozens of felony counts in four criminal cases, Trump has plans to expand presidential immunity, purge the federal government, “come down hard” on the media, and send hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the border.
Speaking Sunday, Trump doubled down on his promise to close the southern border and “drill, baby, drill” on day one of a second term as president, but avoided explaining just how he’d do it.
Bartiromo pushed Trump to reassure viewers. “But did you mean executive orders? What did that mean?”
“No, no, no,” he replied. “It said very simple. I’m going to close the border, and we’re going to drill, baby, drill. That’s all. And then after that, I’m not going to be a dictator. Now, that was said in jest,” Trump said.
Bartiromo urged Trump to comfort observers. “Your critics say ‘end of democracy,’ ‘dictator,’” she said. “Are you planning to use more executive orders this time than last time? Would you use an executive order to close the border?”
“There’s nothing wrong with executive orders. Biden’s using them all the time,” Trump replied. “I mean, to me, Biden is bad for democracy, because he’s incompetent,” he argued. “And, frankly, you take a look at what’s happening to our country, our country is being destroyed before our very eyes. Of course I’m not going to be doing that.”
Trump didn’t elaborate on his energy plan, but he said closing the border would involve “massive deportations.”
Echoing the infamous line from his 2015 campaign launch that Mexico is “not sending their best,” Trump also claimed migrants are coming from nations that are “sending people, for the most part, that they don’t want.”
