Trump shares cryptic ‘dictatorship’ word cloud on Truth Social
It’s not the first time Trump has called himself a dictator, but it's the first time he's said it via word cloud.
Voters surveyed by the Daily Mail described former President Donald Trump’s political goals as “corruption,” “revenge” and “dictatorship.”
On Tuesday, Trump appeared to voice his agreement with their assessments.
In a cryptic post on Truth Social, Trump shared a word cloud with the results of a Daily Mail survey released Tuesday that prominently displayed the words “corruption,” “revenge,” “dictatorship” and “power,” indicating that those answers were provided by a large number of participants asked about Trump's plans for a second term in office.
There was no caption or comment attached to the post. The Trump campaign also did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It’s not the first time Trump has called himself a dictator or hinted at his authoritarian desires, but it's the first time he's embraced the label via word cloud. Earlier this month, the Republican frontrunner told Fox News host Sean Hannity that he would not be a dictator “except for day one.”
Trump has doubled down on those comments, telling a gathering of the New York Young Republican Club in Manhattan a few days later that “I said I want to be a dictator for one day” and added, “you know why I wanted to be a dictator? Because I want a wall, and I want to drill, drill, drill.”
Trump has also lavished praise on authoritarian leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan and North Korean strongman Kim Jong-un.
The former president has said a second Trump administration would “root out” detractors “who live like vermin” from within the government. Allies and surrogates of the former president have also hinted at possible retribution and retaliation at media figures. Kash Patel, a Trump loyalist who served at the Department of Defense and National Security Council during his presidency, said in a recent appearance on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast that “we will go out and find the conspirators not just in government, but in the media.”
The Daily Mail poll found Trump and Biden were virtually tied in a direct matchup, with Trump leading Biden 46 to 43 percent. Biden’s word cloud contained the words “nothing” as well as “peace,” “economy” and “democracy.”
The Daily Mail worked with polling firm J.L. Partners on the poll. The poll surveyed 984 likely voters across the country and has a 3.1 percent margin of error.