Al Gore questions ‘you kind of wonder what it’ll take for people to believe him when he tells us who he is’ after Trump said he would be a ‘dictator’ by ‘only on day one’ of a second term
Al Gore told Americans to listen when Donald Trump said he plans to rule as a dictator on the first day of his potential second term.
Gore, who served as Bill Clinton's vice president from 1993 to 2001, said people should “believe” the ex-president.
It comes after Trump refused at a prime-time town hall last week to rule out abuse of power to go after his critics – saying he wouldn't do it “except on day one.”
Fox News host Sean Hannity gave Trump several chances to renounce plans for revenge or a dictatorial power grab, but he didn't take those risks.
“Well, I saw the other day that he promised on day one to be a dictator, and it makes you wonder what it's going to take for people to believe him when he tells us who he is,” Gore told CNN's State of the Union. when asked about Trump's re-election prospects.
Former Vice President Al Gore said Americans should 'believe' Donald Trump when he says he will 'rule as a dictator on day one' if he wins re-election
Trump is the Republican frontrunner for president in 2024. He is at least 40 points behind the rest of the candidates vying for the nomination, and it appears a 2020 rematch is planned for next year.
President Joe Biden has no real competition, aside from a preliminary bid from Democratic Rep. Dean Phillips.
Polls consistently show that Americans want alternatives to Biden and Trump.
“The solution to political despair is political action,” Gore advised. “And for those in the Republican Party and the Democratic Party and the independents who love American democracy and who want to preserve our ability to govern ourselves and solve our problems, now is the time to get active.”
'We know what we have to do. We have the tools to do that, and we need to make sure that we make the right political choices in our democracy so that we can make the right choices,” Gore said of the “poly crisis” the country is facing.
Hannity questioned Trump during the town hall in Iowa on Tuesday about some of his critics' worst accusations, including that he planned to “abuse power” or use the legal system to take down his political rivals, and pointed out that some want him call 'a dictator.'
“Just to be clear, if you are re-elected, do you have any plans whatsoever to abuse power, break the law and use the government to go after people,” Hannity asked the ex-president.
“You mean like they use now?” Trump responded, without answering the question directly.
Following a tangent from Trump, the Fox News host returned to the topic, having previously played a famous Trump clip in which he told his supporters, “I am your retaliation.”
“You promise America tonight that you would never abuse power in retaliation?” Hannity asked the former president, who is also leading President Biden in a series of general election polls.
“Except for day one,” Trump replied.
“Except on day one,” former President Donald Trump said when Fox News host Sean Hannity asked him to rule out abuse of power if he wins re-election to the White House
Hannity pushed, “Meaning?”
“I want to close the border and I want to drill, drill, drill.”
“That's not retaliation,” Hannity pointed out.
Then Trump tried to get a laugh out of the line.
'He says: you are not going to be a dictator. I said 'no, no, no – except on day one. We close the border. And we drill, drill, drill. After that I will no longer be a dictator.'
A Biden-Harris account tweeted the clip, adding the line: “Trump: I'll be a dictator on day one.”
The president's re-election campaign responded to the comment with a statement from campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez.
“Donald Trump has told us exactly what he will do if re-elected and tonight he said he will be a dictator from day one. Americans should believe him,” she said.