Trump declines to rule out abusing power or seeking retribution if he returns to the White House | AP News (VOTE!)

"NEW YORK (AP) — Former President Donald Trump declined to rule out abusing power if he wins the presidency again after Fox News Channel host Sean Hannity asked him Tuesday to respond to growing Democratic criticism of his rhetoric.

The GOP presidential front-runner has talked about targeting his rivals — referring to them as “vermin” — and seeking retribution if he returns to the Oval Office for what he argues are politically motivated prosecutions against him. As Trump has dominated the Republican presidential primary, President Joe Biden has stepped up his own warnings, contending Trump is “ determined to destroy American democracy.”

“Under no circumstances, you are promising America tonight, you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?” Hannity asked.

“Except for day one,” Trump responded. “I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill.”

Trump then repeated his assertion. “I love this guy,” he said of the Fox News host. “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.”

Earlier in the interview, Hannity had asked Trump if he “in any way” had “any plans whatsoever, if reelected president, to abuse power, to break the law to use the government to go after people.”

“You mean like they’re using right now?” Trump responded.

The interview before a live audience was taped in Davenport, Iowa, Tuesday and aired later in the night.

Trump had tried to turn the tables on Biden during a Saturday speech in Iowa, arguing that the man whose election victory Trump tried to overturn is “the destroyer of American democracy.”"

Do not be complacent. VOTE and get your friends and family to VOTE. Remember what happened in 2016. "This guy could never win." It CAN happen again. VOTE. VOTE. VOTE.

(if anyone is interested: lemmy: https://lemmy.world/c/antitrump@kbin.social kbin: https://kbin.social/m/antitrump)

eran_morad,

The republican traitor filth must be dealt with.

Daft_ish,

At the polls. Trumps power is derived from the the people who empower him. Seeing him lose over and over is the only way they will learn no one cares for their zealotry.

PorradaVFR,

Declined to rule out? Well, yeah - he’s been explicitly promising it’s precisely what he’ll do.

PhlubbaDubba,

Quoth the Privs: “bUt BiDeN sAmE!”

originalfrozenbanana,

The autocracy is a feature not a bug for his voters

jimmydoreisalefty,
@jimmydoreisalefty@lemmy.world avatar

Trump has a great chance of winning, again, when looking at the polling talking to people on the ground. Looking at certain groups that may vote for him or just sit out.

Blue party does not like to learn or care to pander to try and win some people over.

This has been talked about for a while now, video below is from August:

Biden LOSES Black Support As Trump’s SKYROCKETS Among VITAL Dem Voter Bloc: Sabby Sabs [9:56 | Aug 20 2023 | The Hill]

www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnSax5mBNUE

daredevil,
daredevil avatar

What scares me more than the fact that this guy exists are how many people chose to and continue to support him

theodewere,
theodewere avatar

who would be stupid enough to bother asking him

Viking_Hippie,

Upsurprisingly, Sean Hannity.

ALostInquirer,

“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.”

When has any would-be dictator ever stuck by this?

But also, what in the world is he referring to by “drill” in this context? As in military drills? Is this essentially Trump-speak for lockdown and eliminate political opposition?

spaceghoti,

I think he means drilling for oil and reversing the government’s support for clean energy technologies.

ALostInquirer,

Oh, right, duh. The rest of the article had me thinking along a different track than general policies, and increasing oil production is easily the last thing I’d think anyone should be considering given the state of things, but leave it to backwards people.

stewie3128,

Which is funny, because the Biden admin is already opening sites back up and waving new drilling proposals through.

spaceghoti,

Why in the world would Fox News report on Biden doing what they want him to, especially when Trump is planning to attack him for his green energy accomplishments?

stewie3128,

I’m implicitly suggesting that Biden shouldn’t be tacking to the center to win imaginary centrist voters. I’m betting drilling fits hist admin’s and donors’ agenda anyway, though.

spaceghoti,

Biden is a capitalist to his core. He was bought and paid for by the RIAA and MPAA for the majority of his career in the Senate. That’s never going to change. But as President he’s been willing to move to the left, and that’s more than I hoped for when he was elected. We can keep pressure on him to do better, but we can’t expect a leopard to change its spots.

RubberElectrons,
@RubberElectrons@lemmy.world avatar

Out here in orange county, it’ll get pretty messy, pretty quickly if the “opposition” isn’t allowed to peacefully leave. Maybe some lefty engineers and other nerds will come together and make his victory a pyrrhic one, at best.

Patches,

You do realize there are 8 Orange counties in the entire United States right? Nobody knows which one you mean.

Orange county, CA has a very different ‘opposition’ than Orange County, FL

RubberElectrons,
@RubberElectrons@lemmy.world avatar

Whoops, thought about typing the CA, forgot to actually do it haha

anewbeginning,

American voters are out of their mind if they elect this guy.

winterayars,

It’s a mistake to think they’d elect him in spite of this. Instead, they want to elect him because of it.

Tumnus,

That’s exactly what Republicans are

GiddyGap,

Lots of Americans love this guy and the crazier the things he says, the more they love him.

Tylerdurdon,

Did anyone think for one minute, that it would be otherwise?

iBaz,

However bad you think it might be, it’ll be worse, much worse.

Zoboomafoo,
@Zoboomafoo@lemmy.world avatar

Me, because I expected him to lie

FlyingSquid,
@FlyingSquid@lemmy.world avatar

He’s the Boy Who Cried Wolf. Even when he’s telling the truth, it’s hard to believe he’s telling the truth.

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