Long before he took office for the first time on January 20, 2017, Donald Trump never intended to rule as an ordinary President. 

Under the Constitution, a President can hold office for—at most—eight years. But a “President-for-Life” can rule until he dies.

That was—and remains—his ambition.

In a closed-door speech to Republican donors on March 3, 2018, Trump revealed his ultimate intention: To overthrow America’s constitutional government.   

He praised China’s President, Xi Jinping, for recently assuming full dictatorial powers: “He’s now president for life. President for life. No, he’s great. And look, he was able to do that. I think it’s great. Maybe we’ll have to give that a shot some day.” 

The statement was greeted with cheers and laughter by Republican donors.

Xi Jinping

Upon taking office as the Nation’s 45th President, Trump attacked or undermined one public or private institution after another.

Among these:

• American Intelligence: Even before taking office, Trump refused to accept the findings of the FBI, CIA and National Security Agency (NSA) that Russian Intelligence agents had intervened in the 2016 election to ensure his victory.
• “I think it’s ridiculous,” he told “Fox News Sunday.” “I think it’s just another excuse. I don’t believe it….No, I don’t believe it at all.”   
• And when FBI Director James Comey dared to pursue a probe into “the Russia thing,” Trump fired him without warning. 
• American law enforcement agencies: Trump repeatedly attacked his own Attorney General, Jeff Sessions, for not “protecting” him from agents pursuing the Russia investigation.
• On November 8, 2018, Trump abruptly fired him, following Democrats’ winning control of the House in the midterm elections.
• He threatened to fire Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general, who oversaw Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian subversion of the 2016 election. 
• American military agencies: In 2018, Trump refused to visit an American cemetery near Paris  and referred to U.S. Marines buried there as “losers” and “suckers.”  
• Trump regularly abused military officials, calling Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff Mark Milley a “dumbass” and former Secretary of Defense James Mattis “the world’s most overrated general.”

Seal of the Department of Defense

• The press: On February 17, 2017, Trump tweeted: “The FAKE NEWS media (failing @nytimes, @NBCNews, @ABC, @CBS, @CNN) is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!”
• Appearing before the Conservative Political Action Conference on February 24, 2017, Trump said: “I want you all to know that we are fighting the fake news. It’s fake, phony, fake….I’m against the people that make up stories and make up sources. They shouldn’t be allowed to use sources unless they use somebody’s name. Let their name be put out there.” 
• The judiciary: Trump repeatedly attacked Seattle US District Judge James Robart, who halted Trump’s first Muslim travel ban. 
• In one tweet, Trump claimed: “Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!”  
• At Trump’s bidding, White House aide Stephen Miller attacked the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals: “We have a judiciary that has taken far too much power and become, in many cases, a supreme branch of government.”

Donald Trump

Even after leaving the White House in 2021, Trump continued his attacks on one cherished American institution after another:

• Facing 91 criminal counts in four cases, he discredited the judicial system, attacking judges, prosecutors, witnesses—and even their family members.
• He attacked Independent Counsel Jack Smith as “deranged” and accused him of trying to invalidate his candidacy for President in 2024.
• He attacked retired U.S. Army General Mark Milley for calling him “a wannabe dictator,” and said that Milley deserved execution as a traitor.
• Milley had successfully averted war with China by calling his Chinese military counterparts in the final weeks of Trump’s administration to assure them that Trump was not planning to attack China.
• He claimed voter fraud where none existed, casting doubt on the integrity of the electoral system.
• He claimed himself to be the victim of “the deep state” inside the federal bureaucracy.
• He attacked the integrity of the FBI—causing previously “law and order” Republicans to demand its defunding. 

* * * * * * * * * *

Donald Trump isn’t crazy, as many of his critics charge. He knows exactly what he’s doing—and why.

He intends to strip every potential challenger to his authority—or his version of reality—of legitimacy with the public. If he succeeds, there will be:

• No independent press to reveal his failures and crimes.
• No independent law enforcement agencies to investigate his abuses of office.
• No independent judiciary to hold him accountable.
• No independent military to dissent as he recklessly hurtles toward a nuclear disaster.
• No candidate—Democrat or Republican—to challenge him for re-election in 2028—or any other year..
• No candidate—Democrat or Republican—to challenge his remaining in office as “President-for-Life.”

A dictator can die of illness or old age. 

China’s Communist ruler, Mao Zedong died on September 9, 1976, at 82, from a series of heart attacks.

And Spain’s Fascist tyrant, Francisco Franco, died on November 20, 1975, at 82, of congestive heart failure.

But there are other ways a tyrant can be forced to give up power—such as the following three.