Vice President J.D. Vance and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth stand behind President Donald Trump in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 25, 2025. Credit - Al Drago—Bloomberg/Getty Images President Donald Trump said Monday that he thinks Americans may like a "dictator," though he wouldn't describe himself as one. "They say: 'We don't need him. Freedom, freedom, he's a dictator, he's a dictator,'" Trump told reporters at the Oval Office. "A lot of people are saying, 'Maybe we like a dictator.' I don't like a dictator. I'm not a dictator. I'm a man with great common sense and a smart person." Trump's remarks came as he signed a raft of executive orders, includingonein which he tasked Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth to lead the training of a specialized National Guard unit dedicated to "ensuring public safety" in Washington, D.C. Read More:D.C. Families Describe Climate of Fear as First Day of School Collides With Federal Takeover The President'sdeploymentof the National Guard to Washington, D.C., and threats to deploy the National Guard toother Democratic-led citiespurportedly to crack down on crime—despitedecreasing crime rates—have raised concerns about hisauthoritarian tendenciesand presidential overreach. "When I see what's happening to our cities and then you send in troops, instead of being praised, they're saying you're trying to take over the Republic," Trump said ofhis critics. "These people are sick." It's not the first time Trump has rebuffed criticism of being dictator-like while also seeming to sympathize with the idea. On the campaign trail in December 2023, Trumpsaidon Fox News that he would not be a dictator "except for Day 1," adding "after that, I'm not a dictator." Trump clarified that 2023 remark in a2024 TIME interview, saying that he said it "sarcastically" but also that he thought that "a lot of people like it." A Public Religion Research Institute poll conducted earlier this year shows amajority of Americanssee Trump, who has repeatedly talked about the possibility ofstaying in office beyond constitutional term limitsand whose Administration has shown adisdain for judicial oversight, as a "dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before he destroys American democracy." Contact usatletters@time.com.
