Trump’s 'grandiosity' is 'checking off almost every item' in the dictator playbook

U.S. President Donald Trump outfit the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 17, 2026. REUTERS/Nathan Howard

Historian/author Ruth Ben-Ghiat, who teaches at New York University, is known for her expertise on the history of authoritarianism, both fascist and communist. And she often points out, in meticulous detail, the ways in which she believes that U.S. President Donald Trump's behavior is consistent with the history of fascism.

Ben-Ghiat isn't the only one who is sounding the alarm.

In an article published by the UK-based i Paper, journalist James Ball lays out a variety of ways in which, he argues, Trump's "grandiosity" is characteristic of a dictator.

"Dictators, once they've secured their grip on near-absolute power — and often once they start to get older — have a tendency to lose touch with reality, which often manifests in the form of grandiosity," Ball explains. "Stalin was still relatively young when he renamed the city of Tsaritsyn as 'Stalingrad,' but building monuments and renaming things is very much the stereotypical out-of-control dictator move: Saddam Hussein had endless statues and monuments built in his image, while Saparmurat Niyazov of Turkmenistan renamed months, animal breeds, days of the weeks and cities…. The combination of endless flattery from courtiers, unbridled ego, lack of restraint from constitutional processes — and, quite often, the effects of an increasingly superannuated brain — drives many despots in this direction."

Ball continues, "Democratically elected leaders are usually immune: they're not in office for long enough, they have to worry about what voters think — and as a result, they just don't get the chance to become so unmoored from reality. Donald Trump is spectacularly bucking that trend. Trump has only been back in office for 15 months, but he has managed to check off almost every item on the bucket list of the late-era autocrat."

Trump, according to Ball, "has no fear that either Congress or the judiciary will punish him for his excesses" — which indicates that the United States' "democratic system" is not "functioning as it should be."

"Trump's relatives are routinely accused of using his presidency to enrich themselves to the tune of billions of dollars," Ball observes. "Trump has tried to add his name to the U.S. Institute for Peace, the Kennedy Center, and more than once has 'joked' he should be added to Mount Rushmore. He is obsessively trying to build a ballroom several times larger than the White House, along with a 250ft triumphal arch that will dominate the DC skyline."

Ball continues, "This apparent speedrunning by Trump to the end zone of dictatorial behavior is an interesting curiosity in its own right, but more because it tells us something about Trump, as well as the state of American democracy."

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