Jen Psaki Calls Trump an ‘Aspiring King’ Who Thinks He Isn’t Subject to Consequences

Jen Psaki did not mince words on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” calling President Donald Trump an “aspiring king” on Wednesday night.

“I don’t think of myself as a naive political person, but this is far worse than I thought it was going to be,” Psaki said when asked about how Trump’s second presidential term compares to his first.

The former White House press secretary and current MSNBC host pointed to Trump’s recent interview with The Atlantic, saying that Trump often tells the public “what he’s thinking.” In that interview, Trump said, “I run the country and the world.”

“That’s how he sees his job,” Psaki said. “The point is he now is unchecked. He now sees himself as not subject to consequences. That is the lesson he’s learned politically over the last 10 years. He thinks he’s running on a mandate, which, by the way, he doesn’t have. He did not get 50% of the vote, and his poll numbers are going down. But he’s running without consequences and that means that he’s leading with cruelty. He’s allowing his worst motivations to determine how he’s governing.”

But for his detractors, Psaki and Colbert do see a glimmer of hope. A recent Axios poll asked Americans if they agreed with the statement: “Trump is a dangerous dictator whose power should be limited before he destroys American democracy.” Of the 5,025 adults who answered, 52% agreed. Overall, 56% of independents agreed with that statement, indicating middle-of-the-road voters — many of whom voted for Trump — may be changing their opinion. Psaki further noted that people don’t like the actions Trump has taken when it comes to immigration and cost of living.

“He’s far underwater. These are some of the things that he ran for president on. So he may think that he has a mandate and is running unchecked as an aspiring king, but his overreach means that the public, as we’re seeing in poll after poll, doesn’t like a lot of what they’re seeing,” Psaki said. Watch the full interview above.