The Daily Blast
Trump’s Alarming New Rant About Dictators Exposes Media’s Epic Failure
As Trump openly celebrates authoritarian rule at a Michigan rally, leading Never Trumper Rick Wilson reflects on what all this says about today's press corps—and what it means for our country.
At a rally in Michigan over the weekend, Donald Trump uncorked one of his longest rants ever in praise of the world’s autocrats, strongmen and dictators. He hailed Xi Jinping of China as “brilliant” for controlling 1.4 billion people “with an iron fist,” and described Xi, Russia’s Vladimir Putin and Hungary’s Viktor Orban as “tough” and “smart.” We talked to Rick Wilson, the prominent Never Trumper and Substacker, about Trump’s explicit campaign promise of authoritarian rule, the GOP’s enthusiastic embrace of it, and the media’s utter failure to alert voters to what’s coming.