Dictators crave power. President Donald Trump is using his power to give Americans more freedom. That’s a massive difference.
Desperate to find an effective attack against Trump, some Democrats are recycling an old one. They claim he’s an authoritarian. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., invited laid off federal workers to attend Trump’s recent speech to Congress. She said she was standing “shoulder to shoulder with people in defiance to a dictator.” That type of defiance led Democrats to withhold applause from a 13-year-old brain-cancer survivor simply because Trump introduced him. Shameful.
Former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams recently called Trump a “petty tyrant.”
The Associated Press claimed that Trump “has embarked on a dizzying teardown of the federal government and attacks on long-standing institutions in an attempt to increase his own authority.”
These accusations aren’t new. Former President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris frequently labeled Trump a threat to democracy. Last year, historian Jon Meacham called Trump a “tyrant” who would cause the downfall of our republic.
Trump has fed into this. After he attacked congestion pricing in Manhattan, the White House posted a picture of Trump wearing a crown. Trump said, “Long live the king.” While that was not a serious claim to monarchical authority, it sent the propaganda press into a tizzy.
Many Americans believe the worst about Trump. Forty-one percent of Americans say Trump is a dictator, according to a February YouGov poll. Those people aren’t just wrong. They have it backward. Trump is doing the one thing dictators never do — reduce their own power.
It would help to define some terms. Merriam-Webster says a dictator is “one holding complete autocratic control.” An autocracy is a “government in which one person possesses unlimited power.” Tyrant has a similar meaning — “an absolute ruler unrestrained by law or constitution.”
Therefore, by definition, you can’t be a dictator while increasing freedom and shrinking the size of government. It’s a contradiction.
That’s what Trump is doing. He rolled back Biden’s target for electric vehicle sales. He has unshackled the energy industry. He has ordered agencies to eliminate 10 previous regulations for every new one they put in place. He’s increasing freedom.
Trump wants tax cuts. Dictators aren’t known for wanting to let you keep more of your own money.
He has laid off tens of thousands of federal workers. Another 75,000 federal workers took buyouts. DOGE is attempting to reduce federal spending by more than $100 billion. He’s shrinking the government he runs.
The Trump administration is even gearing up to eliminate the Department of Education. In early March, Education Secretary Linda McMahon laid out “our department’s final mission.” She wants “to send education back to the states and empower all parents to choose an excellent education for their children.”
Indoctrinating a nation’s children is a powerful tool for any would-be dictator. Communist dictators wanted kids’ loyalty to be to the government. They sought to drive a wedge between children and their parents. Trump wants to give parents more control of their children’s education.
Now, Trump is governing aggressively. The executive orders have been fast and furious. He has closed the border. He’s clearing out the deep state. He’s rooting out DEI in the government. He has recognized that men are not women.
But an elected official changing government policy isn’t tyranny. That’s the point of elections. It would be tyrannical if an unelected, unaccountable bureaucracy could stop a democratically elected president from running the executive branch as he sees fit. Just look at the obstacles Trump faced in his first term.
Trump is one of the most successful men in the world, but he’s a complete failure at being a dictator.
Contact Victor Joecks at vjoecks@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-4698. Follow @victorjoecks on X.
