President Donald Trump went full dictator on Tuesday when asked about Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker’s rejection of federal troops set to be deployed to Chicago.

“So I would have much more respect for Pritzker if he’d call me up and say, ‘I have a problem. Can you help me fix it?’” Trump said. “I have the right to do anything I want to do. I’m the president of the United States. If I think our country is in danger, and it is in danger in these cities, I can do it.”

“But it would be nice if they’d call and say, ‘Would you do it?’” Trump added.

Trump and the GOP’s crime fantasias have little bearing in reality. Like many major cities, Chicago has seen steep declines in violent crime. In fact, numerous cities in Republican-controlled states have higher violent crime rates than Washington, Chicago, or New York.

“If this were happening in any other country, we would have no trouble calling it what it is, a dangerous power grab,” Pritzker said Monday at a press conference in Chicago, responding to Trump’s threats of sending troops to the city. 

“If this was really about fighting crime and making the streets safe, what possible justification could the White House have for planning such an exceptional action without any conversations or consultations with the governor, the mayor, or the police?” he added.

Trump’s march toward authoritarianism is built on baseless claims that cities like D.C. are beset by crime. Meanwhile, the insurrectionists are inside the White House.