'We'd Rather Be a Free Country': Bernie Sanders Shreds Trump for Latest 'Dictator' Rant

US President Donald Trump on Tuesday once again mused about the benefits of being a "dictator," and drew a quick rebuke from Sen. Bernie Sanders and other critics.

During a cabinet meeting, Trump responded to criticism that his deployment of the National Guard in Washington, DC to stop a fictitious crime wave against the wishes of local officials was dictatorial in nature.

"So the line is that I'm a dictator, but I stop crime," Trump said. "So a lot of people said, you know, if that's the case, I'd rather have a dictator."

Trump then insisted that he wasn't a dictator but was rather just someone who "knows how to stop crime." The president also said during the meeting that "I can do anything I want" because "I'm the president of the United States."

The comments followed similar remarks from the president on Monday in which he claimed, "A lot of people are saying, 'Maybe we like a dictator.'"

Sanders took to social media and ripped the president for suggesting that a dictatorship would be acceptable.

"Actually, Mr. Trump, 'a lot of people' say that millions of Americans fought and died to DEFEAT dictators," he wrote. "Ask anybody. We'd rather be a free country."

In a separate post, Sanders laid out Trump's authoritarian ambitions and challenged other lawmakers to stand up to him.

"Trump threatens and investigates his political opponents—Democrats and Republicans," he said. "He says, in violation of the Constitution, that he has 'the right to do anything [he] wants.' Is there one Republican who has the guts to stand up to this rapid movement toward authoritarianism?"

Progressive veterans organization VoteVets made a similar point in its own criticism of Trump.

"Millions of Americans have worn the uniform and sworn an oath to defend the Constitution, not one man's ego," the organization wrote. "Trump is spitting on that sacrifice and shredding the values we served to defend."

Former Republican Congressman Joe Walsh, however, warned that far too many of Trump's supporters appear to be on board with making him their president for life, based on polling.

"That so many Americans who voted for Trump actually WANT a dictator, an authoritarian, a strongman to rule over them and rule over this country has never surprised me," he argued. "Because for years, his voters have told me they wanted this. Yes, it's hugely disappointing, but not at all surprising."

CNN reporter Aaron Blake backed up Walsh's contention with polling data showing that 44% of Republican voters surveyed this year don't think courts should even be allowed to review the president's policies, while 36% of GOP voters said they wouldn't mind if Trump tried to "suspend some laws and constitutional provisions to go after political enemies."

"Trump is more or less right that many people seem to want a dictator," Blake commented. "They're his people."

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, argued that a strong public education system is one of the best defenses against tyranny in the United States.

"As Donald Trump throws around the word dictator, it's a good reminder that the founding fathers warned about kings and dictators," she argued. "In fact, they believed that public education was essential to a functioning democracy."

Weingarten then posted a video in which she read from her upcoming book, called "Why Fascists Fear Teachers," that features quotes from America's founders about the crucial role education plays in guarding against dictatorship.

"Thomas Jefferson was an early advocate of free public education, and wrote, 'Educate and inform the whole mass of the people... they are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty,'" said Weingarten. "Democracy and public education have been linked every since. You cannot have a country of, by, and for the people without a means for the public to prepare, not just for the privilege of that democracy, but the duties as well."