Former Republican congressman, Charles Bass (N.H) said supporters of Donald Trump are “fed up with democracy” and want a more authoritarian style of government after the former president’s victory in Monday night’s Iowa caucuses.
“A lot of people that support Donald Trump really are fed up with democracy, representative democracy, they think that an authoritarian-style government would probably be preferable at this point in order to save the nation or whatever,” Bass told the New York Times.
Bass, who doesn’t plan on voting for Trump despite doing so in the past, added that supporters of the former president “don’t feel threatened by having someone who at least has the trappings of being more authoritarian than past presidents.”
Bass’ comments come after Trump won the Iowa caucus by around 30 points. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was a distant second, narrowly defeating former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley.
New Hampshire is the next GOP primary contest. Haley is polling better in the Granite State compared to Iowa, after securing an endorsement from the state’s Gov. Chris Sununu (R) but, she’s still trailing Trump by double digits as the anti-Trump vote is split between her and DeSantis.
Barring a catastrophic event, Trump will likely be the GOP nominee for president.
Trump along with his allies have planned sweeping transformation of the federal government that would wield the power of the presidency in radical and unprecedented ways, including punishing his political rivals, if he is re-elected as president.
And then they came for me…