Donald Trump has publicly embraced a comparison placing him alongside history's most feared autocrats, from Hitler and Stalin to Napoleon and Genghis Khan, with a single caveat: he claims superior power.
The president reposted a text early Friday morning from Dave King, a Scottish businessman and former Rangers Football Club chairman now based in South Africa, who wrote that historical strongmen maintained control through fear and conquest but lacked Trump's "global reach." Trump's response was unambiguous: "Sounds good to me!"
The document King authored listed figures including Alexander the Great, the Caesars, Attila the Hun, and Tamburlaine alongside more recent dictators, arguing that Trump's distinguishing factor was the scope of his power rather than any fundamental difference in character or method.
Trump first brought the document into public view during a March interview with New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan, who were researching their forthcoming book "Regime Change," an account of Trump's second term. When asked to reflect on his historical significance, Trump called aides to retrieve the two-page assessment and read aloud the names of powerful figures, explaining how each fell short of his own authority.
The comparison hinged on governance philosophy. According to the reporters, Trump stated that these historical leaders "maintained power through fear" before asking rhetorically, "Who would ever do a thing like that? Right?" The statement appeared designed as a denial while simultaneously endorsing the underlying framework.
King reportedly first discussed his assessment with golfer Gary Player during an event in Florida, where he was caddying. The businessman later shared the analysis directly with Trump during a golf outing. Haberman and Swan, conducting more than 1,000 interviews over three years for the book, identified King as the "historian" Trump referenced, though King holds no formal credentials in the field.
The forthcoming book, set to publish next week, captures other unguarded moments from Trump's second term. During the same interview, Trump boasted about his record: "Essentially I won every fucking time. And I'm tired of winning and winning and winning and just getting bad fucking press." He also dismissed criticism with characteristic bluntness, telling reporters it was time they "tell the truth."
In separate accounts from the book, Trump reportedly discussed considering Florida governor Ron DeSantis, a former rival for the Republican nomination, for secretary of defense, suggesting he wanted "plot twists" in his administration. He made derisive comments about Ukraine, saying he was not a fan "except their women. They keep winning Miss Universe."
The book also recounts an incident in which White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt discovered Trump in the Oval Office attempting to affix gold decorations to the marble fireplace mantel using superglue. In another meeting, Trump expressed his desire to torment Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell by blocking construction renovations to the Fed building rather than simply firing him.
Trump's enthusiastic embrace of the autocrat comparison fits a broader pattern of admiration he has expressed for strongmen, including Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, praise that has drawn criticism from democracy advocates throughout his political career.
Author James Rodriguez: "The fact that Trump saw no need to clarify or distance himself from this comparison says everything about how he views presidential power and his place in history."
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