A dictator on "day one": The time to push back on Trump is now

When Donald Trump acknowledged in a Fox News town hall on Tuesday his intent not to abuse power as retribution against anybody, “ except for Day One,” he was doubling down on a tried and true strategy of 20th-century dictators. As NYU professor Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of “Strongmen,” wrote years ago about Trump’s wild statements, he is “introducing an idea that is reprehensible to the values of liberal democracy, framing it as an off-the-cuff remark or even as a joke.” Meanwhile, she notes, “it cannot be unheard.” The message is that his followers, like those in a cult, can experience power through their leader. It’s a common strategy for rising authoritarians to float “trial balloons” to see what they can get away with, as Professor Ben-Ghiat explained: nti-democratic rulers have always “tested”... the public and the media as they consolidate their power, saying things that “push the envelope” against democratic norms to the point of raising the idea of extralegal or irregular action. Related Trump is hiding his fascist plans in plain sight Second, he was compensating for his personal, characterological feeling of powerlessness – asserting unlimited future power to convince his doubting inner self to “fake it ‘til he makes it.” To that point, Dr. Bandy Lee, a forensic psychiatrist and president of the World Mental Health Coalition, stated in a 2021 Scientific American interview that Trump “projects grandiose omnipotence” – as he just did this week with Hannity – because he is “hungry for adulation to compensate for an inner lack of self-worth.” Public response can help sidetrack a man who would be king, on “day one” and beyond.