CNN presidential historian Timothy Naftali suggested President Trump succeeded in being a “dictator on day one” of his presidency, based on his actions on Inauguration Day.
Naftali reacted to the news the president would sign more than 200 executive orders on his first day, a record-breaking number.
“He has decided to make good on his promise to be a dictator on day one,” Naftali said, referencing a comment Trump made during a 2023 town hall with Fox News’ Sean Hannity.
Trump quipped then that he wouldn’t be a dictator, “Except for day one. We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator.”
Naftali added how Trump invited several international leaders, such as Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and Argentine President Javier Milei, who Naftali criticized as “far-right” leaders.
He went on to attack Trump’s past calls to acquire Greenland and regain control over the Panama Canal, suggesting this is capitulating to the “far-right.”
“In a sense, we had the far-right international represented at the inauguration,” Naftali said. “And the President of the United States, for the first time since 1901, in an inaugural address, talked about how this country is going to acquire new territory and threatened the sovereignty of another country.
“That is a signal to the far-right in the world that America is now going to play the game the way the other far-right countries play, which is, ‘What we want, we take.’”
He continued, “Which means, for the first time since World War II, we are no longer an indispensable nation. If we follow through with the rhetoric in the inauguration, we have become an imperialist nation.”
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