Donald Trump boldly declares 'sometimes you need a dictator' in second Davos speech

President Donald Trump shocked audiences during his second speech at the World Economic Forum on Wednesday, as he told the world: "Sometimes, you need a dictator."

The unexpected remark came as the world leader made reference to the feedback he had received for his first speech of the day, as he told assembled officials: "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, 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, let's say 95 percent common sense."

It isn’t the first time Trump has made reference to being a dictator, as he previously spoke positively of the title back in 2024 on the election campaign trail when he repeatedly stated he’d welcome becoming one, but only ‘dictator for a day.’

Trump: "Usually they say, 'he's a horrible dictator-type person.' But sometimes you need a dictator." pic.twitter.com/Mi11DZx0u3

— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) January 21, 2026

On other occasions he had quipped he’s be a ‘dictator on day one’ of his second term.

Speaking at a town hall chaired by Fox News' Sean Hannity back in 2023, Trump said of Hannity: "I love this guy. He says, ‘You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?’ I said: ‘No, no, no, other than day one.'

"We’re closing the border and we’re drilling, drilling, drilling. After that, I’m not a dictator."

This wasn't the only eyebrow-raising aspect of Trump's Davos speech, in which he also told some members of his audience he couldn't 'stand them' and would 'screw them if I could'.

The remarks came after he boasted 'the biggest people, biggest business people' had 'doubled' their net worth or more since he became president.

"We have a lot of brilliant genius people in this room, and you can put that genius to work, and it's an honor to do it," Trump began "In a way, I'm jealous of... in a way I'm upset. There are a couple of people in the room. I can't stand them, and they've become very rich."

He added: "There's nothing I can do about it. I would screw them if I could, but I can't do it, right, you know, I can't do it."

He concluded by praising robots, saying: "I made a statement the other day: thank goodness for robots, because we’re never going to have enough people to run all these places that are being built.

"And I think robots are actually going to be a very big business. I think it’s going to be surprisingly big, but I think we’re going to need it."