President Donald Trump rejected accusations of authoritarianism on Monday, declaring in the Oval Office that “a lot of people are saying maybe we’d like a dictator” but insisting, “I’m not a dictator. I’m a man with great common sense.” The remark came during a press conference in which the president defended his expanding use of National Guard troops to police Washington, D.C., and threatened to deploy them to other cities. Trump portrayed Chicago as “a killing field” and said residents there “desperately need help,” rebuffing Democratic leaders who oppose federal intervention. He singled out Illinois Governor JB Pritzker—whom he called a “slob”—along with other Democratic officials, asserting that critics who brand him a dictator are “sick.” The president also signed a package of executive orders aimed at crime, directing the Defense Secretary to create specialized public-order training for Guard units, seeking to roll back cashless bail, and imposing penalties for burning the American flag. While crime in the capital has been trending lower, Trump said the Guard presence is needed to keep violence down and signaled that similar deployments could follow in Chicago and additional cities.