Trump's plan to expand presidential powers isn't just the daydream of a Putin fanboy

Donald Trump’s admiration for authoritarian leaders around the world was on display through his years in the White House. It was clear he would have preferred the powers of a dictator to those of a president. Now, as he campaigns to get back into the White House, he and his allies are making plans to move the U.S. presidency a little closer to a dictatorship—but big chunks of the plan aren’t new to Trump. They’re just his extra dictator-y gloss on a longstanding Republican plan.

Team Trump isn’t making a secret of the plan. They want people to know about it, whether in a Steve Bannon rant at Turning Point USA—“This is a crusade! This is a Holy War against the Deep State! Donald Trump is our instrument for retribution!”—or in wonky-sounding quotes to reporters.