Donald Trump believes presidents have almost absolute power. In his second term, there will be few political or legal restraints to check him, CNN reports.

The president-elect’s sweeping victory over Vice President Kamala Harris suddenly turned the theoretical notion that he would indulge his autocratic instincts into a genuine possibility.

When Trump returns to the White House in January as one of the most powerful presidents in history, he’ll be able to take advantage of his filleting of guardrails during his first presidency, which he continued through legal manoeuvrings out of office.

It’s not guaranteed that just because Trump has massive power he will spurn constitutional checks and balances. But the lesson of Trump’s business and political career is that he seeks to obliterate all constraints.

He has, for instance, crushed opposition in the Republican Party and driven out political heretics who oppose his “Make America Great Again” creed. This will be increasingly significant since the GOP has already flipped the Senate and still hopes to complete a monopoly on Washington’s power by keeping the House, which CNN has not yet projected.

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