In case there was any mystery about President Donald Trump’s methods for obtaining vast new powers, he more or less copped to the whole strategy Tuesday.
“The line is that I’m a dictator, but I stop crime,” Trump said during a Cabinet meeting, referring to his moves to send troops into major American cities. “So a lot of people say, ‘You know, if that’s the case, I’d rather have a dictator.’”
He later added: “Most people say … if he stops crime, he can be whatever he wants.”
His comments — which expanded on his odd remarks the day before in which he noted many people seem to want a dictator — are extremely enlightening, given all that has come before it.
Over and over again, Trump has tested the limits of his power by not just taking extraordinary actions, but also by targeting things that Americans don’t particularly like – or care to defend. Things like crime.
Americans might not like the methods he’s using (majorities often don’t), but they’re significantly less likely to raise a fuss if he’s going after other things they don’t like.
It’s his modus operandi, and we’ve seen this in spades just in recent days.
Trump wants to expand his use of troops into a third city, Chicago. He’s signaled an effort to try to crack down on flag burning. And his administration has upped the ante on legally targeting critics like John Bolton and Chris Christie, including searching Bolton’s home and office and making his former national security adviser a face of his retribution campaign.
What do these targets have in common? All are viewed quite negatively.
Both Bolton and Christie, the former New Jersey governor, have burned bridges on the left and then the MAGA right. Each was viewed negatively by about a 2-to-1 margin in the most recent polls we have on them, from 2020 and 2023.
On Chicago, a 2023 Gallup poll showed Americans said 70%-27% that it wasn’t safe enough to live in or visit – the second-worst mark among 16 cities tested. (The administration has made moves to send troops to three of the six cities with the lowest marks in that poll, including Los Angeles; Washington, DC; and Chicago, where it remains unclear what that deployment would look like.)
And on flag-burning, it’s difficult to find a type of speech that engenders more distaste. A 2017 AP-NORC poll showed 69% of Americans said flag-burning was “never acceptable,” and a 2022 Ipsos poll showed 67% said people shouldn’t be allowed to burn or deface a flag.
That last poll also gets at the dilemma.
Ipsos polling has also shown that a sizeable majority of Americans (59%) know that flag-burning is constitutionally protected speech, thanks to Supreme Court rulings.
But how many people are truly going to care that Trump is flirting with unconstitutional action, given how distasteful they find flag-burning?
(It’s worth emphasizing here that the president’s executive order doesn’t actually ban flag-burning, even as he has billed it that way. But again, Trump is baiting people to defend something hugely unpopular.)
Similarly, Americans broadly dislike the idea of Trump commandeering the Justice Department to target his foes. But who is going to cry for Bolton, of all people?
And likewise, polls have shown Americans generally dislike the idea of sending troops into major US cities. But who is going to object to the concept of cleaning up cities that majorities of Americans have said aren’t even safe enough to visit? What, are you going to defend crime?
Trump’s new comments give away the game. In his trademark “many people are saying” fashion, he’s pitching crime as being so bad that lots of people are calling for this expansion of presidential power. So you might not like the troops, but the ends justify the means.
This has become a familiar exercise with Trump. Repeatedly, he’s geared his power grabs toward unsympathetic entities and ideas. People have often balked at how he’s gone about it, but perhaps not as strongly as they otherwise would, given the subject matter.
To wit:
Deporting migrants without due process: One of Trump’s most controversial early moves was deporting undocumented immigrants without due process. Americans generally objected to the lack of due process – 55%-41% in a Reuters-Ipsos poll – but as many as 8 in 10 say some of these immigrants should be deported.
Deporting pro-Palestinian activists: The administration also sought to deport a series of pro-Palestinian student activists, despite them having legal status. While many Americans support the Palestinian cause, the protests were very unpopular – with many people saying the protesters acted inappropriately (47%-14%) and the protests were antisemitic (41%-25%).
Coercing major institutions: Trump has repeatedly coerced universities, major law firms and media companies into making concessions to the administration. Each of these groups is generally regarded quite skeptically.
Foreign aid: Trump’s cancellation of congressionally appropriated foreign aid spending set the tone for his efforts to disregard Congress. While foreign aid isn’t unpopular, per se, Americans tend to vastly overestimate how much of the federal budget it is. A KFF poll earlier this year showed 58% said the US government spends “too much” on foreign aid (though that number dropped to 34% when people were told the actual level of spending was only around 1%). So while another poll showed 62% opposed Trump’s spending freeze, the backlash has been relatively small.
TikTok: This is perhaps Trump’s most brazen effort to simply disregard the law. He’s repeatedly extended the social media platform’s deadline for divesting from Chinese ownership, despite not appearing to have the authority to do so. And he’s largely been allowed to because nobody wants to be the bad guy in shutting down a popular app.
The problem with fighting back against these power grabs is that it requires explaining why you’re standing up for the thing that’s unpopular – which isn’t often rewarded in our modern politics.
It’s simply a lot easier to say, “Crime is bad, and I’m doing something about it.”
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