Trump's Authoritarian Impulses and the Justice Department
Consider This from NPR
NPR
4.2 • 6.2K Ratings
🗓️ 10 December 2023
⏱️ 14 minutes
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Summary
In a recent interview with Fox's Sean Hannity, the former President said he'd only be a dictator on "day one." At other moments, he's pledged to "root out the communists," and said he'd have his Attorney General go after people who run against him.
Consider This host Scott Detrow and NPR Justice Correspondent Carrie Johnson breakdown what a second Trump term would mean for the Justice Department.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You are promising America tonight. You would never abuse power as retribution against anybody. |
| 0:14.1 | The other day, one of former President Donald Trump's top allies in the media, Sean |
| 0:18.3 | Hannity, tried to give Trump a break. |
| 0:21.6 | Hannity was interviewing Trump on a Fox News town hall and he fed him a layup question |
| 0:26.3 | aimed at letting Trump respond to the mounting concerns about just how authoritarian the |
| 0:31.7 | former president sounds as he runs for a second term. |
| 0:34.7 | Hannity gave Trump two chances to walk back some of the startling rhetoric and |
| 0:38.7 | Trump didn't really leap at the opportunity. |
| 0:41.3 | We love this guy. |
| 0:42.4 | He says you're not going to be a dictator, I |
| 0:44.3 | said no no no other than day one. Trump is facing 91 felony charges |
| 0:50.8 | across four criminal cases. |
| 0:53.5 | But he's leading his Republican primary opponents |
| 0:55.4 | by double digits, and he's tied or ahead of President Biden |
| 0:59.2 | in most early polls. |
| 1:00.9 | So the idea of a Trump return to the White House is very real. |
| 1:05.0 | And many people who worked in Trump's first administration are very alarmed at what he's |
| 1:09.7 | promising to do. |
| 1:10.9 | Here's former defense secretary Mark |
| 1:13.0 | Asper speaking to MS NBC. |
| 1:15.0 | He'll be able to, you know, enact his policy of revenge that he's been talking about in |
| 1:19.2 | retribution. And look, it's quite a dangerous time for our democracy if that were to happen. |
... |
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