‘Damn, If He Isn't a Dictator’: ABC News Claims Trump Not Leaving Ever

Watching ABC News’s The View throughout October, one couldn’t help but think that their pearl clutching hyperventilation about President Trump supposedly trying to steal the midterms with the National Guard and the ballroom being evidence that he planned on holding onto power, were meant to incite another assassination attempt. On Monday’s show, they claimed that Trump was in fact a “dictator,” that he was planning on running again in 2028, and he was going to steal the election.

“Well, [Trump] told us he was going to be a dictator on day one and, damn, if he isn't a dictator,” proclaimed ABC News moderator Whoopi Goldberg. Despite playing a soundbite of Trump denying that he was going to seek a third term because the people wouldn’t support him, Goldberg warned he was going to do it anyway and wanted to know if their audience was “going to let it happen”:

TRUMP: I think the people wouldn't like that, it's too cute. It’s not – It wouldn't be right.

[Cuts back to live]

GOLDBERG: So, just so we're clear, you have nothing to say about any of this [pointing to the audience]. Just understand that. Okay? Republicans have pretty much given him free rein up until now. Are they going to let this happen? Are y'all going to let it happen [looking to the audience]?

 

 

Faux conservative co-host Alyssa Farah Griffin admitted that peddling such claims made her feel “crazy” and like a “conspiracy theorist,” but went on to defend their disinformation anyway: “I asked Justice Sotomayor when she was here and people were like ‘oh, that's so wild.’ But here’s the thing, this is a person who’s been right before saying it, the President himself isn't ruling it out.”

Obviously, Farah Griffin’s claim that “the President himself isn't ruling it out” was a boldfaced lie since they played a soundbite of him saying, “I think the people wouldn't like that, it's too cute. It’s not – It wouldn't be right.”

 

 

Despite that clip, she tried to map out how he would do it anyway (Click “expand”):

Now, what I would say is this, there's two ways to do it but I think he's going to go for the third way which isn’t technically the way you would do it. You would either need a super majority in Congress to pass a change to the Constitution or you would need two-thirds of states calling for a constitutional convention to consider making this change.

I sort of think that he's going to try to challenge it through the courts on the grounds that it wouldn't be consecutive terms. And so, to kind of parse the language within the Constitution to say that he actually could do this. And with the makeups of the courts where a lot of judges are in power because Trump put them there, it's possible that they perhaps could rule in his favor. So, I say don't rule out what he is saying.

“He's done thing that people never thought he would never do,” decried Sunny Hostin, going on to take the incendiary position that Trump was planning on never leaving the White House:

I actually have come to the conclusion that he is most definitely going to try to remain in power, because remember, that East Wing it's going to take a long time to build that. He is hooking up the White House because he doesn't plan on leaving it. I don’t think he plans on leaving.

 

 

Farah Griffin chimed again in to point out that in her scenarios Trump would still need to get elected and that the people had a chance to oppose him at the ballot box. But Hostin countered with an insane theory that Trump was just going to have the National Guard steal it for him:

HOSTIN: What if he militarizes everything?

FARAH GRIFFIN: I’m not going there today.

HOSTIN: What if he militarizes everything? He has sent in the National Guard. And what if does that?

GOLDBERG: He is not -- he's going to do what he's going to do.

HOSTIN: Yeah.

GOLDBERG: He's going to try everything he can do and he doesn't care what we think. He's going to do this.

“If he wants to do it and there's no opposition, he's going to do it. There needs to be opposition,” Goldberg demanded.

 

 

So, if they were going to argue with certainty that “dictator” Trump was not going to leave office and that voting wasn’t going to get rid of him, what option was The View leaving for their liberal extremists out there with delusions of grandeur of saving the country?

This ABC News segment came during a disturbing rise across the country in inciting rhetoric and messages of death against Trump and conservatives, including at leftist events such as the so-called “No Kings” protests. That’s not to mention it followed the assassination of conservative influencer Charlie Kirk, who The View mourned and exploited to demand the rhetoric be turned down. They later demanded people stop blaming liberals for the murder.

The transcript is below. Click "expand" to read:

ABC’s The View
October 27, 2025
11:01:40 a.m. Eastern

WHOOPI GOLDBERG: Well, you-know-who told us he was going to be a dictator on day one and, damn, if he isn't a dictator. He got back into office and his former chief strategist, Steve Bannon, just added more fuel to the fire.

(…)

11:02:42 a.m. Eastern

PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I think the people wouldn't like that, it's too cute. It’s not – It wouldn't be right.

[Cuts back to live]

GOLDBERG: So, just so we're clear, you have nothing to say about any of this [pointing to the audience]. Just understand that. Okay? Republicans have pretty much given him free rein up until now. Are they going to let this happen? Are y'all going to let it happen?

AUDIENCE: No!

GOLDBERG: Just asking.

(…)

11:02:28 a.m. Eastern

ALYSSA FARAH GRIFFIN: And I feel crazy because I feel like a conspiracy theorist talking about this. I asked Justice Sotomayor when she was here and people were like ‘oh, that's so wild.’ But here’s the thing, this is a person who’s been right before saying it, the President himself isn't ruling it out.

Now, what I would say is this, there's two ways to do it but I think he's going to go for the third way which isn’t technically the way you would do it. You would either need a super majority in Congress to pass a change to the Constitution or you would need two-thirds of states calling for a constitutional convention to consider making this change.

I sort of think that he's going to try to challenge it through the courts on the grounds that it wouldn't be consecutive terms. And so, to kind of parse the language within the Constitution to say that he actually could do this. And with the makeups of the courts where a lot of judges are in power because Trump put them there, it's possible that they perhaps could rule in his favor. So, I say don't rule out what he is saying.

I also know Donald Trump well enough to believe this is not a guy who is going to be a lame duck after the midterms. He is not going to be like, oh, let all the center of gravity shift to J.D. Vance or Marco Rubio while he fades into the distance. So, It's something to keep an eye on. I find it concerning.

(…)

11:05:29 a.m. Eastern

SUNNY HOSTIN: So I think, you know, many people who say there's no way he would do it, well, those are the same people who said ‘the Supreme Court is never going to get rid of Roe v. Wade.’ Those are the people that said things like, ‘he's never going to have these masked men disappearing people all over the country.’ These are the same people who said, ‘Oh my goodness, are you kidding he's never going to get rid of the Rose Garden, he's never going to get rid of the East Wing.’ He's done thing that people never thought he would never do.

I actually have come to the conclusion that he is most definitely going to try to remain in power, because remember, that East Wing it's going to take a long time to build that. He is hooking up the White House because he doesn't plan on leaving it. I don’t think he plans on leaving.

GOLDBERG: I told y'all that years ago, that he had no – He was not going anywhere. He said it. He said, ‘I want to be president for life.’ I heard him say it, I watched his lips move, and I thought he means this.

(…)

11:09:26 a.m. Eastern

FARAH GRIFFIN: All three of the scenarios I laid out would still require him to stand for election. And so, there would still be the power that the voters would have. So say, if the Supreme Court ruled and he was able to be the Republican nominee for a third time, there would still, I believe, be an election in this country.

GOLDBERG: This is why I love y'all.

HOSTIN: What if he militarizes everything?

FARAH GRIFFIN: I’m not going there today.

HOSTIN: What if he militarizes everything? He has sent in the National Guard. And what if does that?

GOLDBERG: He is not -- he's going to do what he's going to do.

HOSTIN: Yeah.

GOLDBERG: He's going to try everything he can do and he doesn't care what we think. He's going to do this. He's going to write something and say -- and he will say there's a – ‘I found a loophole and so I can do this.’ Not consecutive, consecutive, doesn't really matter. If he wants to do it and there's no opposition, he's going to do it.

HOSTIN: Yeah.

GOLDBERG: There needs to be opposition.

(…)