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Politics & Policy

Trump's ‘Total’ Authority Shouldn't Scare Anyone

How will he force governors to end lockdowns when can’t get congressional Republicans, and sometimes his own staff, to push his agenda?

He wants you … to get back to work.

He wants you … to get back to work.

Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images

President Donald Trump’s critics have been on the lookout for signs he is an authoritarian since before he became president, and he has given them plenty - most recently in his declaration at a White House press briefing that “when somebody is president of the United States, the authority is total.”

It was a disturbing comment. But it was also one that can mislead us about the peculiar challenge that this presidency poses to our political system.