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When Barack Obama said in 2013 he was no dictator, it felt oddly reassuring, a moment of humility when the President bowed to reality that he was not in total control of Washington and could not browbeat his political opponents into submission.

When Donald Trump said the same thing on Monday, the context couldn’t have been more different.

“I am not a dictator,” Obama said in the White House briefing room more than a decade ago, responding to a question about not getting what he wanted out of Congress. “I’m the President.”

Just this week, Trump offered his own version of that: “I’m not a dictator. I’m a man with great common sense and a smart person.”

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