“Many who had hoped to tune out Trump this time realize they don’t have that luxury. It’s far more dangerous now,” writes political analyst and columnist Maureen Dowd.

News fatigue is a real problem when democratic institutions are under assault.

“There are frightening moments when our 236-year-old institutions don’t look up to the challenge. With flaccid Democrats and craven Republicans, King Donald can pretty much do whatever he wants to whomever he wants,” Dowd observes.

President Trump is increasingly presenting himself as a king in social media and official statements.

“After pillaging and gutting the U.S. government, the Western alliance and our relationship with Volodymyr Zelensky, Trump is thinking of himself as a king and cogitating on a third term. He basks in the magniloquent rhetoric of acolytes genuflecting to an instrument of divine providence.”

Trump’s supporters have fully embraced the image and rhetoric of monarchy and dictatorhip.

Maureen Dowd indicates that “at the Conservative Political Action Conference this week, a group calling itself the ‘Third Term Project’ erected a sign depicting Trump as Caesar. A wag on X wondered if they knew what happened to Caesar.”

“Trump delights in reposting memes of himself as a king and as Napoleon, with a line attributed to the emperor: ‘He who saves his country does not violate any law.'”

Down emphasizes that “his [Trump’s] dictatorial impulses were clear when he refused to accept the results of the 2020 election and egged on a mob to disrupt the certification of the election, even if it meant that his own vice president might be hanged. And now he has added imperialistic impulses, musing about taking over the Panama Canal, Greenland, Canada, Gaza, D.C., and mineral rights in Ukraine.”

Dowd argues that “His [President Trump’s] megalomania has mushroomed. His derisive behavior toward Zelensky — how can a modestly talented reality show veteran mock Zelensky as ‘a modestly successful comedian’? — shows Trump can’t abide anyone saying he is doing anything wrong.”

Mauren Dowd’s opinion piece, “Fail, Caesar!” is available at The New York Times.