Newsmax Anchor Praises Trump for Fulfilling ‘Dictator on Day One’ Promise
Donald Trump promised to a “dictator on Day One” on the campaign trail—sparking a massive backlash from Democrats.
Now, Newsmax anchor Rob Finnerty has happily declared that the president fulfilled his pledge.
“Yes, Donald Trump was dictator on Day One, but a dictator that the American people voted for,” Finnerty said on the right-wing cable channel.
“They all asked for this and voted for this, and according to our border czar today, Tom Homan, over 300 criminal illegal aliens were arrested on Day One. It took one day, and did you hear anything negative about it? I didn’t.”
Though Trump promised deportations on a massive scale, so far, arrests by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are in line with the Biden administration’s policy. In Sept. 2024, the most recent month of data available, 282 migrants per day were arrested.
“Did you hear about roundups? Did you hear about ICE agents going into the ghettos and banging down doors?” Finnerty continued. “No, because that didn’t happen, and that is exactly what the American people voted for.”
On Tuesday, Trump rolled back protection from arrest on areas like schools, places of worship and hospitals, which has been in place since the Obama administration.
Finnerty cited recent polling that shows the majority of Americans support the deportation of immigrants—both legal and undocumented—convicted of violent crimes as proof of Trump’s mandate.
The same polling shows that the majority oppose deportations in places like churches and schools and ending birthright citizenship, both key parts of Trump’s immigration policy.
“You can really see that there’s been a massive shift from when Trump was first getting into office eight years ago,” Finnerty said. “I think the American people are going to give Donald Trump the benefit of the doubt to do what he wants to do.”