Former president Donald Trump on Wednesday again vowed to seize dictatorial powers if elected to the nation’s highest office once more but attempted to walk back his frequently made promise to exact retribution on his political enemies during a second term in the White House.
The disgraced former president, who is currently facing more than 90 felony charges in four separate jurisdictions and is scheduled to go on trial in March for attempting a coup to keep himself in office after losing the 2020 election, promised to spend his first day of a second term ruling as an autocrat during a town hall broadcast on Fox News ahead of the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses.
He also attempted to turn back Democratic criticism of his intention to be an autocrat by describing reporting of his pledge to rule as a dictator “on day one” as a “new narrative” meant to paper over a poor governance record by President Joe Biden, his successor and likely general election opponent.
The ex-president again complained about press coverage of his prior remarks, accusing media outlets of failing to report that he’d limited his dictatorial ambitions to his first day in office.
Mr Trump’s participation in the Fox News town hall comes just days before he expected to win the Iowa caucus, which he lost to Texas Senator Ted Cruz during his first run for the White House in 2016.
And despite his frequent promises from the stump to turn the machinery of law enforcement against top Democrats, he told the television audience that he wasn’t planning on weaponising the government to punish his enemies, though he also said “a lot of people” would say doing just that is “not so bad”.
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This is the best summary I could come up with:
Former president Donald Trump on Wednesday again vowed to seize dictatorial powers if elected to the nation’s highest office once more but attempted to walk back his frequently made promise to exact retribution on his political enemies during a second term in the White House.
The disgraced former president, who is currently facing more than 90 felony charges in four separate jurisdictions and is scheduled to go on trial in March for attempting a coup to keep himself in office after losing the 2020 election, promised to spend his first day of a second term ruling as an autocrat during a town hall broadcast on Fox News ahead of the first-in-the-nation Iowa caucuses.
He also attempted to turn back Democratic criticism of his intention to be an autocrat by describing reporting of his pledge to rule as a dictator “on day one” as a “new narrative” meant to paper over a poor governance record by President Joe Biden, his successor and likely general election opponent.
The ex-president again complained about press coverage of his prior remarks, accusing media outlets of failing to report that he’d limited his dictatorial ambitions to his first day in office.
Mr Trump’s participation in the Fox News town hall comes just days before he expected to win the Iowa caucus, which he lost to Texas Senator Ted Cruz during his first run for the White House in 2016.
And despite his frequent promises from the stump to turn the machinery of law enforcement against top Democrats, he told the television audience that he wasn’t planning on weaponising the government to punish his enemies, though he also said “a lot of people” would say doing just that is “not so bad”.
The original article contains 719 words, the summary contains 285 words. Saved 60%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!