US President Donald Trump says Americans would ‘like a dictator’, firmly denies he is one

US President Donald Trump has raised eyebrows with a bizarre remark in which he appears to suggest that some Americans may be open to a dictatorship, while firmly denying that he himself fits that description.

“A lot of people are saying, ‘maybe we’d like a dictator,” he said, before quickly adding, “I don’t like a dictator. I’m not a dictator.”

The US President made the comments during a news-packed press conference at the Oval Office on Monday (local time), where he signed executive orders aimed at expanding federal law enforcement operations in Washington DC, as part of what he called a sweeping crackdown on crime.

“I’m a man with great common sense and I’m a smart person,” Mr Trump continued. “And when I see what’s happened to our cities, and then you send in troops. Instead of being praised, they’re saying, ‘you’re trying to take over the Republic’.”

The measures follow an aggressive deployment of federal officers to the country’s capital earlier in August, a move that drew sharp criticism from civil rights advocates, local officials and members of Congress.

“They say, ‘we don’t need him. Freedom. Freedom. He’s a dictator. He’s a dictator,” Mr Trump said, mocking critics who have raised alarm over his use of federal power.

Looking ahead, Mr Trump singled out Chicago and Baltimore as possible next targets for a federal crackdown.

“As you know, Chicago is a killing field right now, and they don’t acknowledge it,” he said.

On Saturday it was announced that The Pentagon is working on plans to deploy the US military to Chicago as Mr Trump says he is cracking down on crime, homelessness and undocumented immigration.

The Defense Department planning, in the works for weeks, involves several options, including mobilising at least a few thousand members of the National Guard as soon as September, the Washington Post reported, citing officials familiar with the matter.

“Chicago is a mess,” Mr Trump told reporters on Friday, deriding its mayor as he continued his attacks on cities run by Democratic politicians.

“And we’ll straighten that one out probably next.”

JB Pritzker, the Democratic Governor of Illinois, which includes Chicago, said in a statement the state had received no outreach from the federal government on whether it needed assistance.

He said there was no emergency warranting a National Guard or other military deployment.

“Donald Trump is attempting to manufacture a crisis, politicize Americans who serve in uniform and continue abusing his power to distract from the pain he is causing working families,” Mr Pritzker said.

A spokesperson for Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Friday Johnson said the city had grave concerns about the impact of any unlawful deployment of National Guard troops.

“The problem with the President’s approach is that it is unco-ordinated, uncalled for and unsound,” the mayor said, adding that over the past year, homicides in Chicago had fallen by more than 30 per cent, robberies by 35 per cent and shootings by almost 40 per cent.

At Mr Trump’s request last weekend, the Republican Governors of three states said they were sending hundreds of National Guard troops hundreds of miles to Washington, DC.

The US President has portrayed the nation’s capital as a city awash in crime, although Justice Department data shows violent crime hit a 30-year low last year in Washington, a self-governing federal district under the jurisdiction of Congress.

In June, Mr Trump ordered 700 Marines and 4000 National Guard troops to Los Angeles, against the wishes of California’s Democratic governor, during protests over mass immigration raids by federal officials.

With AAP, Reuters