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E.J. Dionne: The autocratic Trump and ‘constitutional conservatives’

Washington • President Trump’s opponents typically treat him as a clown, a fool and a garden-variety bigot. They only occasionally pay enough attention — usually when he praises some foreign dictator — to the side of him that relishes autocracy and undercurrents of violence.

He really doesn’t seem to believe in democracy very much. For him, politics is always a clash between power on one side and power on the other. The institutions we have created to mediate conflicts matter not a whit.

There should be no more minimizing this side of Trump after the interview the president gave to Breitbart last week in which he suggested a willingness on the part of his enthusiasts to resort to force against his enemies on "the left.