Conservative ridicules MAGA senator for shrugging off Trump’s 'dictator' promise

During a townhall event with Fox News' Sean Hannity on Tuesday, former President Donald Trump remarked that during a second term, he would not be a dictator "other than Day One."

Trump told Hannity, "I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill. Other than that, I am not a dictator."

Trump has drawn a great deal of criticism for his comments, which Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) has been defending. Trump's critics, Vance claims, are blowing them out of proportion.

But Never Trump conservative Charlie Sykes, in a biting column for The Bulwark, brutally mocked the MAGA senator and "Hillbilly Elegy" author for defending the indefensible.

On January 6, Vance tweeted, "Trump's super power is that he's the most quick witted leader in a generation. Every grown man hyperventilating about this clip needs to find a sense of humor."

Sykes writes, "The other day, when Trump told Sean Hannity that he would be a 'dictator' for a day — shutting the border, drilling, and presumably cleaning out the vermin — J.D. Vance rushed to Xitter to explain…. You may have thought that Trump's super-power was shamelessness. But Vance assures us, no, it is that 'he's the most quick witted leader in a generation.' And if you don't think this dictatorship stuff is hilarious, you need a chill pill."

Sykes notes a pattern with Vance and others when they rush to defend Trump's authoritarianism.

READ MORE: Mehdi Hasan slams 'unhinged' MAGA lawyer who'd make 'Trump's darkest fascist impulses' a reality

"Axios provided a peak at what a Trump 2.0 Administration might look like," the Never Trumper writes. "Think Vice President Tucker Carlson, Attorney General Stephen Miller, White House Chief of Staff Steve Bannon, FBI or CIA Director Kash Patel, Secretary of State Ric Grenell. In other words, a veritable Fyre Festival of Authoritarianism and Hilarity."

Sykes continues, "By now, we know the pattern: It's a joke. He didn't mean it. LOL. OK, he meant it, but we shouldn't take it seriously. You are the ones with the TDS! Damn right, he meant it. Let's go! Make sure you tip your waitresses because we're here all week."READ MORE: 'It's getting scary': Ex-RNC chair warns democracy is now a 'foreign concept' to Trump's MAGA army