Over the last week, several outlets published articles warning that a second Trump term would turn America into a dictatorship.

The Washington Post most notably ran a piece written by Robert Kagan, husband of Former State Department official Victoria Nuland (who was deeply involved in peddling the Steele dossier) titled "A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending."

Many suggested this was a clear call to assassinate the former US President.

Let's stop the wishful thinking and face the stark reality: There is a clear path to dictatorship in the United States, and it is getting shorter every day. In 13 weeks, Donald Trump will have locked up the Republican nomination.

[…] Are we going to do anything about it? To shift metaphors, if we thought there was a 50 percent chance of an asteroid crashing into North America a year from now, would we be content to hope that it wouldn't? Or would we be taking every conceivable measure to try to stop it, including many things that might not work but that, given the magnitude of the crisis, must be tried anyway?

Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) said in response on X, "They're obviously green-lighting assassination."

In addition to the post, The Atlantic and the NY Times have also published stories warning of a "Trump dictatorship" in recent days, with the Times suggesting that a second Trump term would likely be more radical than his first, The Hill reports.

"All of these articles calling Trump a dictator are about one thing: legitimizing illegal and violent conduct as we get closer to the election," wrote Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) on X. "Everyone needs to take a chill pill."