WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump suggested on Monday Americans would like a dictator as he signed orders to tighten his clampdown on the capital Washington and to prosecute flag-burners.

In a rambling 80-minute event in the Oval Office, Trump lambasted critics and the media as he complained that he was not getting credit for his National Guard-backed crackdown on crime and immigration.

“They say `we don’t need him. Freedom, freedom. He’s a dictator. He’s a dictator’. A lot of people are saying:`Maybe we like a dictator,’” Trump told reporters.

But he then insisted: “I don’t like a dictator. I’m not a dictator. I’m a man with great common sense and a smart person.”

He deployed the National Guard to Washington earlier this month to counter what he alleged was an out-of-control crime problem, also taking federal control of the city’s police department.

Trump said he was considering whether to send in the military to Chicago and Baltimore as he targets a series of Demo­cratic strongholds.

Published in Dawn, August 26th, 2025