Trump: 'I'm Not a Dictator; I Just Know How to Stop Crime'

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Democrats are opposing President Donald Trump vows to send in the National Guard, using the political narrative that Trump "is a dictator," but Trump said he does not care what they smear him as, as long as crime stops in their crime-ridden Democrat-run sanctuary cities.

"I'm not a dictator," Trump said in an open media event before a Cabinet meeting Tuesday in the White House, which aired live on Newsmax and the Newsmax2 streaming platform. "I just know how to stop crime."

In fact, Trump joked he would even let the Democrats peddle their smears if they would just allow the federal government to solve the crime epidemic.

"So the line is that I'm a dictator, but I stop crime," Trump said, referencing remarks by Maryland Democrat Gov. Wes Moore. "A lot of people say that, you know — if that's the case, I'd rather have a dictator."

"But I'm not a dictator."

He is a crime-fighting president, he maintained.

Trump pointed to recent federal operations in Washington, D.C., that he said removed more than 1,000 criminals in less than two weeks, and called out Democrat governors in Illinois, New York, and California for failing to curb violence in their states.

In particular, Trump said Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker should be asking for federal help to address what he described as "out of control" crime in Chicago. He also credited his earlier deployment of National Guard forces in California with helping secure the Olympics and World Cup.

The president's comments come amid heightened scrutiny of his crime crackdown policies, which include expanded use of federal law enforcement and military assets in major U.S. cities.

On Pritzker:

"They're going to fight me like the slob of a governor you have in Illinois," Trump said.

"Chicago is the worst. These places are really bad."

On recent law enforcement actions in Washington, D.C.:

"Crime in D.C. was the worst it ever was," Trump said. "And now over the last 13 days, we've worked so hard. We've taken so many — over a thousand [criminals]."

On governors asking for federal help:

"You would think that Illinois, where they have such a problem with crime, such a bad governor, he should be calling me and he should be saying, 'Could you send over the troops, please?' It's out of control," Trump lamented.

On California and deploying the National Guard:

"In California, you would have not had the Olympics had I not sent in the troops — sent in the National Guard," Trump said. "They did a fantastic job. We have the Olympics. We have the World Cup coming. I got them in my first term."

Eric Mack

Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.

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