Republican Lawmakers Express Concern About Claims of Trump Becoming Dictator in 2024
Republican lawmakers are speaking out against recent articles suggesting that former President Donald Trump could become a dictator if re-elected in 2024. The concerns were sparked by an article penned by Robert Kagan in the Washington Post, which asserted that a Trump dictatorship is “increasingly inevitable.”
Kagan’s piece claimed that there is a clear path to dictatorship in the United States, and that this path is getting shorter every day. His article was followed by others in The Atlantic and the New York Times, which echoed similar claims about the former president’s authoritarian rhetoric on the 2024 campaign trail.
Following the publication of these articles, former Rep. Liz Cheney announced that she would consider running for president under a third party to disrupt Trump’s 2024 momentum. She expressed a need for a new, fully conservative political party, stating that restoring the current Republican Party seems like a difficult, if not impossible, task.
The articles drew strong criticism from some Republican lawmakers, who accused these publications of attempting to condition the public to violence against Trump. Rep. Matt Gaetz accused them of “green-lighting assassination,” while Sen. J.D. Vance suggested that the goal was to legitimize illegal and violent conduct as the election approaches.
The Trump campaign also pushed back against these claims, accusing the media of attempting to sow discord ahead of the 2024 election. They accused the media of abandoning issue-based debates and resorting to name-calling and fearmongering.
In response to the claims of a potential dictatorship, President Trump himself was asked about the issue during a town hall event. He dismissed the concerns, stating that he would be a dictator on “day one” of his presidency by carrying out certain policy actions, but denied any further dictatorial intentions.
Despite these concerns, recent polls indicate that Trump remains the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential primary. He holds about 61 percent of the support, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at 13.5 percent, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley at 10.3 percent, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy at 4.9 percent, and former Gov. Chris Christie at 2.5 percent.
