Peggy Noonan has been a voice of conservative reflection for The Wall Street Journal since leaving the Ronald Reagan administration as his primary speechwriter. Five of Noonan’s books have been New York Times bestsellers. Consuming every word of her weekly column keeps me politically balanced.
In her June 14-15 column titled “America is losing sight of its political culture,” she referred to and elaborated on our 47th president being America’s Mr. Tinpot Dictator. This phrase, often used to describe a leader who acts like a dictator, with delusions of grandeur and authoritarian tendencies, struck a chord. Following the title about Mr. Trump, I pursued investigative research on the topic.
A Historical Lens on Authoritarianism
My research led me to study Jeane Kirkpatrick, who played a major role in the foreign policy arm of the Ronald Reagan administration. She was an ardent anti-communist and became the first female to serve as US Ambassador to the United Nations. In Kirkpatrick’s 1982 book, “Dictatorship and Double Standards,” she described two kinds of dictatorships: traditional autocracies (Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, North Korea, and the United Arab Emirates) and tinpot dictatorships (Nicaragua, the Philippines, Syria, and Panama).
Kirkpatrick argued that dictators remain in power by using the tools of repression, domination, and fear. In a Perplexity AI research-based search, 15 documented examples of Donald Trump exhibiting behaviors commonly associated with a tinpot dictator were revealed. The examples – noted below -- are referenced by nine different sources and align with patterns seen in authoritarian regimes, where leaders undermine democratic institutions, target minorities, silence dissent, and concentrate power to the point where they feel and act like a king.
A Democracy in Decline
Since January 20, Americans have witnessed a disturbing pattern:
- Disregard for court orders
- Attacks on the press
- Suppression of protests
- Expansion of executive power
- Demonization of political opponents
- Undermining of elections
- Weaponization of law enforcement
- Dehumanization of minorities
- Termination of asylum protections
- Mass deportations
- Erosion of the rule of law
- Marginalization of LGBTQ+ and racial communities
- Spread of disinformation
- Invocation of emergency powers
- Threats against political adversaries
- Promotion of fear and division
In just 160 days of Trump’s 2.0 administration, Trump’s actions have closely mirrored classic authoritarian tactics such as labeling media as “enemies of the people,” downgrading valid research-based polls that show America’s disapproval of him and his cabinet members’ actions, quashing states’ rights, using force against protestors by calling in the military to quell his definition of civil unrest, undermining Congressional and judicial institutional checks, demeaning people. Even members of his own party who dissent are publicly demeaned
A Dictator’s Stunt
Thom Hartman, columnist for the independent news outlet Common Dreams, noted in his June 23 op-ed regarding Trump’s decision to bomb Iran, “By defying the law – the Constitution, the War Powers Act, and the AUMF (Authorization to Use Military Force) – and simply bombing Iran without any consultation whatsoever, he’s also pulling a dictator stunt … .”
Constitutional scholars concur that, as a minimum, Trump should have consulted the bipartisan congressional Gang of Eight that U.S. law (50 U.S.C. 3093) requires before he bombed Iran. Trump’s self-presentation, non-consultation, and unlawful action on June 22 were a model authoritarian narrative where one person tries to demonstrate that he alone is the king. Trump’s actions against Iran opened up a Pandora's box for 340 million Americans plus our allies, and no one, not even the tinpot dictator, knows what consequences this may lead to.
Knowing that fair-minded Americans have witnessed the earlier cited 15 actions by their president in only 160 days and realize they’ve 1,300 more days before Trump 2.0 ends, there are several pillars that are at risk for Americans. They include:
- the rule of law
- judicial independence
- free press
- freedom of expression
- civil rights
- anti-discrimination protection
- environmental protection
- scientific research integrity
- multilateral alliances
- international cooperation
- domestic and international human rights
- migration and refugee protection
- whistleblower protection
- public health safeguards
- economic stability
- minority and vulnerable community protection
- Congressional, legislative, and executive checks and balances
With Trump 2.0, Americans sure have a lot on our plates, don’t we? And behold, look at the calendar. Friday, July 4, kicked off the year-long celebration of America’s 250th birthday, which formally occurs on July 4, 2026. Never forget that in 1776, the Declaration of Independence proclaimed that American citizens were no longer subject to or subordinate to a dictatorial king.
A Call to Conscience:
Fellow citizens: What are you going to do between now and July 4, 2026, to protect and preserve our independence from a tinpot dictator?
So, fellow citizens, I ask you:
- Bow down to authoritarianism and normalize anti-democratic behavior.
- Reflect on the challenges facing the nation and become an advocate for policies that align with liberty, freedom, sovereignty, democracy, and the principles enshrined in the U.S. Constitution.
This is your America. The choice is yours.
Steve Corbin is Professor Emeritus of Marketing, University of Northern Iowa, and a non-paid freelance opinion editor and guest columnist contributor to 246 news agencies and 48 social media platforms in 45 states.
A golden tray sits on the Resolute Desk as President Donald Trump speaks during an announcement on American nuclear innovation in the Oval Office at the White House on July 24, 2026, in Washington, D.C. Trump is signing multiple executive orders targeting the nuclear energy sector and easing rules for new reactors and nuclear fuel supply chains.
Trump’s hubris rivals the fallen heroes of ancient Greek mythology
In January, the New York Times asked President Donald Trump if there were any limits on his global powers.
“Yeah,” the president responded, “there is one thing. My own morality. My own mind. It’s the only thing that can stop me.”
That was eight months ago, but fortunately Christopher Nolan’s blockbuster adaptation of “The Odyssey” has made ancient Greek literature newly relevant. Before that window closes, I’d like to talk about hubris.
Today, the term mostly means excessive pride or arrogance. That’s part of what the Greeks meant by it too, but the meaning was a bit richer and more specific. Hubris was an insolent or outrageous act that offended the gods, often because the transgressor was claiming abilities or authorities that solely belonged to supreme beings.
Nolan renamed and slightly modified the concept of xenia for the film, calling it “Zeus’ law.” In the director’s telling, mortals should follow the rules laid out by the gods, specifically the requirement to treat strangers with respect lest they be gods in disguise.
In a sense, hubris is the opposite, or at least the rejection, of xenia. The hubris of the suitors, and at times Odysseus himself, invites punishment by the gods and their mortal instruments.
Which brings me back to Donald Trump. His claim that there are no constraints on his personal power to dictate events on the global stage was one of the greatest expressions of hubris ever uttered by a political leader.
Trump’s claim was obviously false when he made it.
He vowed that he could end the Russia-Ukraine war in 24 hours. He’s proved powerless to make that happen. If he had divine powers to work his will, why would he have balked at implementing his tariffs so often that Wall Street adopted the “TACO trade” term for his deals? “TACO” stands for “Trump always chickens out.”
And why would Trump have made so many embarrassing concessions to China — from rescinding tariffs on Chinese goods to allowing them to buy crucial and incredibly valuable computer chips?
But Trump saw his success at capturing Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro as proof of his ability to launch missiles to the same effect as Zeus’ lightning bolts. Trump believed he was the most powerful man who ever lived.
This is no exaggeration. In March, when the Iran invasion seemed successful, Trump gave a document penned by“Presidential Historian David King” to New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan purporting to prove that Trump was “the most powerful person to have EVER walked this planet.” King was, in fact, a businessman and occasional caddy for legendary golfer Gary Player.
King compared Trump favorably to many of history’s most powerful, and often heinous, figures: Alexander the Great, Attila the Hun, William the Conqueror, Napoleon Bonaparte, Joseph Stalin, Genghis Khan, Mao Tse Tung, Adolf Hitler and Vladimir Lenin. Many of these men thought they were the most powerful person in the world, too. And many were defeated precisely because they believed it.
At least Napoleon and Hitler had a string of truly impressive victories before they learned the folly of hubris. The limits on Trump’s power have been exposed by far less august forces than the combined might of the allies in World War II or the fearsome Russian winter.
Iran is a comparatively middling power. But the regime’s ability to absorb punishment while imposing its will on the Strait of Hormuz has proved to be a greater constraint on Trump’s power than his morality or mind. We should note that, at least rhetorically, his morality has not proved much of a constraint. He has repeatedly promised to destroy Iranian “civilization” if the regime refuses to capitulate.
But they haven’t — and won’t anytime soon — because the regime’s tolerance for pain far outstrips Trump’s. The combined fear of skyrocketing oil prices, outrage of Gulf state potentates, diminishing weapon supplies and domestic unpopularity is doing the work that international law, congressional oversight and the collective opinion of foreign policy experts can’t or won’t do.
If I considered Trump more heroic than reason and facts could allow, I would say his Sisyphean predicament has the whiff of Greek tragedy to it. Trump is vexed by the fact that the Iranians won’t honor deals or ratify his countless premature claims of victory — giving new meaning to his vow that his presidency would make people tired of winning. It’s almost like they’re out-Trumping Trump.
Things might have gone better if he’d heeded that great Greek tragedian Sophocles: “For Zeus utterly abhors the boasts of a proud tongue.”
____
Jonah Goldberg is editor-in-chief of The Dispatch and the host of The Remnant podcast. His Twitter handle is @JonahDispatch.