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| - Trump genuinely made the remark immediately after referencing how some of his critics labeled him as a dictator.
In January 2026, social media users shared a quote attributed to U.S. President Donald Trump in which he said, "Sometimes you need a dictator."
Social media users and publishers widely shared a live-broadcast video from the speech.
In short, Trump genuinely said, "Sometimes you need a dictator." He made the remark during a reception with business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Jan. 21, 2026. Those words came immediately after Trump referenced his critics referring to him as a dictator.
Snopes emailed the White House to ask for an explanation of Trump's comment and when the president believes a dictator is needed. We will update this article if we receive further information.
Transcript and video of Trump's speech
During the speech, Trump addressed the evening gathering following an introduction by WEF co-chair Larry Fink. Near the end of his remarks he referenced a speech he delivered earlier in the day, then made the comment about needing a dictator (emphasis ours):
So, it's been, it's been really amazing. And you are the people that made it happen. Really, largely it's you. It's you and a group of others. Not a lot more. I mean, the people here, I guess because of Larry, the people that came to this event, it's really incredible. I wasn't sure how it was going to turn out. We had somebody, as you know, that ran it for many, many years, and I'm not sure what happened there, but I figured, well, that's all right. They had a hell of a run in Davos. Then, I heard Larry was taking it over, more or less, and he called me. He said, "Would you do me a favor? Would you be there?" And we've had some great business dealings together and being here. He's a great, he's one of, he's one of you. He's one of the greats. And it was an honor.
We had a, we had a good speech. We got great reviews. I can't believe it. We got good reviews in that speech. Usually they say, "He's a horrible dictator-type person. I'm a dictator." But sometimes you need a dictator. But they didn't say that in this case. And no, it's common sense. It's all based on common sense. You know, it's not conservative or liberal or anything else. It's mostly, I'd say, 95% common sense, and that's what we have.
So, I just want to thank everybody for being here. It's such an honor. And, if we can ever help, you're going to let me know. And I have a pretty direct line. Marco Rubio's here, too. He's done a fantastic job as secretary of state. He'll go down as maybe the best secretary of state if he keeps going like he's going. That's a big question. I don't know that he will, but for the first year, he's right, he's headed to the top. And I just want to thank everybody very much for being here. Thank you very much. Take care of yourselves. Thank you.
The YouTube channels for LiveNOW from Fox and the White House hosted two different camera angles of Trump's speech in its entirety. His remark about dictators occurred near the end of his time behind the microphone.
For further reading, we previously reported about the time Trump shared a post advocating his reelection on Truth Social that linked to a Washington Post article headlined, "A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending."
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