Paul LePage Thinks Donald Trump Should Use ‘Authoritarian Power’
Photos via AP
After the media (and late-night TV) had a field day with Republican Maine Gov. Paul LePage’s shocking (and unsubstantiated) comments about the role race plays in his state’s drug problems, he swore off speaking with the press entirely.
But it looks like even in friendly territory—on the radio show where he is a regular guest—LePage can find a way to get the world’s attention with his filterless, red-hot takes on the issues of the day.
That’s what he did today in an interview with the station WVOM, in which he said that, if elected, Republican nominee Donald Trump should use “authoritarian power” to fix what ails the United States. Puzzlingly, this was pitched as a way to counteract President Barack Obama’s moves to circumvent Congress.
Sometimes, I wonder that our Constitution is not only broken, but we need a Donald Trump to show some authoritarian power in our country and bring back the rule of law because we’ve had eight years of a president, he’s an autocrat, he just does it on his own, he ignores Congress and every single day, we’re slipping into anarchy.
CNN posted the audio of the interview on its website today.
Trump, who has been criticized for an apparent coziness with and fondness for authoritarian leaders, has recently flirted with some authoritarianism of his own, promising to send a special prosecutor after his opponent Hillary Clinton should he become president, and telling Clinton that if he were in charge, “you’d be in jail.”
LePage, in the radio interview, also weighed in on the newly leaked video showing Trump boasting about kissing and touching women without asking them. He took a dig at Bill Clinton, whose history with women has emerged as a target for his wife’s critics.
Is [Trump] a slimeball? I’d be the first one to say, not a guy ideally I’d want my daughter going after. But I will tell you one thing, as the head of state, is he going to protect our nation and fight the debt or is he going to go after interns? That’s the bottom line.
LePage’s daughter Lauren, as the Globe reports, joined the Trump campaign in August.
