Maine Gov. Paul LePage on Wednesday told reporters he misspoke on Tuesday when he said the United States needs Donald Trump in the White House to show "authoritarian power."
His quote from Tuesday:
"Sometimes, I wonder that our Constitution is not only broken, but we need a Donald Trump to show some authoritarian power in our country and bring back the rule of law."
LePage's words drew criticism, especially from critics of the GOP presidential nominee, as proof that a Trump administration would move to suppress individual freedom.
LePage addressed the controversy in a press conference on Wednesday, saying, "Instead of using the word 'authoritative,' I used the word 'authoritarian.'"
The governor said he was attempting to compare Trump to the old TV ads for brokerage firm E.F. Hutton which included the tagline "When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen."
Trump is like that, LePage said, in that he has a "powerful persona" that can be used to get others to listen to his point of view. That's a contrast to President Barack Obama, he said, calling the current holder of the Oval Office a "dictator" who uses executive orders to get his way rather than working with Congress.
Obama, he said, "has failed the American people. He has not worked with the Congress. And what he has done, he has used the executive office for regulations on our country that it's gonna take us decades to get out of."
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