Morning headlines: Trump's vow to only be a dictator on 'day one' follows growing worry over his authoritarian rhetoric

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Trump’s vow to only be a dictator on ‘day one’ follows growing worry over his authoritarian rhetoric

As Donald Trump faces growing scrutiny over his increasingly authoritarian and violent rhetoric, Fox News host Sean Hannity gave his longtime friend a chance to assure the American people that he wouldn’t abuse power or seek retribution if he wins a second term.

But instead of offering a perfunctory answer brushing off the warnings, Trump stoked the fire.

“Except for day one,” the GOP front-runner said Tuesday night before a live audience in Davenport, Iowa. “I want to close the border, and I want to drill, drill, drill.”

Trump campaign aides said Thursday that the former president was simply trying to trigger the left and the media with his dictator comment, while also seeking to focus attention on the influx of migrants at the border and stubborn inflation, two vulnerabilities for President Joe Biden heading into the 2024 general election.

Trump's vow to only be a dictator on 'day one' follows growing worry over his authoritarian rhetoric

Putin will seek another presidential term in Russia, extending his rule of over two decades

Vladimir Putin on Friday moved to prolong his repressive and unyielding grip on Russia for at least another six years, announcing his candidacy in the presidential election next March that he is all but certain to win, according to state media reports.

Putin still commands wide support after nearly a quarter-century in power, despite starting an immensely costly war in Ukraine that has taken thousands of his countrymen’s lives, provoked repeated attacks inside Russia -– including one on the Kremlin itself -– and corroded its aura of invincibility.

Putin will seek another presidential term in Russia, aiming to extend his rule of over two decades

Israel Palestinians — Palestinians displaced by the Israeli ground offensive on the Gaza Strip arrive in the Muwasi area Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023. AP Photo/Fatima Shbair)

Fatima Shbair – staff, ASSOCIATED PRESS

Israel designates a safe zone in Gaza. Palestinians and aid groups say it offers little relief

Israel has designated a small slice of mostly undeveloped land along Gaza’s Mediterranean coast as a safe zone — a place where waves of people fleeing the war can find protection from airstrikes and receive humanitarian supplies for their families.

The reality? The area of Muwasi is a makeshift tent camp where thousands of dazed Palestinians live in squalid conditions in scattered farm fields and waterlogged dirt roads. Their numbers have swelled in recent days as people flee an Israeli military offensive in nearby areas of the southern Gaza Strip.

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Israel designates a safe zone in Gaza. Palestinians and aid groups say it offers little relief

Palestinians crowd into ever-shrinking areas in Gaza as Israel's war against Hamas enters 3rd month

High-profile attacks on Derek Chauvin and Larry Nassar put spotlight on violence in federal prisons

Derek Chauvin was stabbed nearly two dozen times in the law library at a federal prison in Arizona. Larry Nassar was knifed repeatedly in his cell at a federal penitentiary in Florida.

The assaults of two notorious, high-profile federal prisoners by fellow inmates in recent months have renewed concerns about whether the chronically understaffed, crisis-plagued federal Bureau of Prisons is capable of keeping people in its custody safe.

In the shadow of gangster James “Whitey” Bulger’s 2018 beating death at a West Virginia federal penitentiary and financier Jeffrey Epstein’s 2019 suicide at a Manhattan federal jail while awaiting trial on sex trafficking charges, the Bureau of Prisons is again under scrutiny for failing to protect high-profile prisoners from harm.

UNLV gunman was unemployed professor who had 150 rounds of ammunition and a target list, police say

A 67-year-old college professor who was denied jobs at various Nevada colleges and universities stuffed loaded handgun magazines into his waistband before walking into a University of Nevada, Las Vegas campus building and killing three faculty members, police said.

After police killed him in a shootout, Anthony Polito was found to be carrying nine magazines for a 9mm handgun he’d legally purchased last year and also a list of targets at the school — although none of those shot were on that list, police said Thursday.

He was killed in a shootout with police about 10 minutes after the first reports of shots fired in Beam Hall, a business school building.

Police still had no motive for Wednesday’s attack, which also left a 38-year-old visiting professor in life-threatening condition at a hospital.