Laura Ingraham sounded the alarm about the need for Congress to assert its authority against a “tyrant” “would-be dictator” in the White House — in 2014

Shockingly, Laura Ingraham and her Fox News colleagues’ concerns about executive orders may vary depending on which party holds the White House

Written by Alicia Sadowski, Jane Lee, Isabella Corrao & Helena Hind

Research contributions from Chloe Simon & Sage Hodil

Published

The beginning of President Donald Trump's second term have featured an aggressive and legally dubious expansion of executive power. A piece by the New York Times editorial board warning of a potential constitutional crisis said, “President Trump is trying to expand his authority beyond the bounds of the law while reducing the ability of the other branches to check his excesses.” While Fox News personalities have been celebrating Trump's authoritarian impulses, they previously characterized executive actions during the terms of former Presidents Barack Obama and Joe Biden as “fascistic" and “dictatorial."

Laura Ingraham’s words were particularly acute, warning of the “homegrown tyranny” of a “king.”

In a 2014 blog post that Media Matters unearthed from an archive of Ingraham’s website, and which appears not to have been previously reported, she implored Congress to use “traditional instruments of Congressional authority.” Echoing current criticisms of Trump's unconstitutional barrage, Ingraham wrote: “Stop yielding more and more power to a man who evidently feels that there are no legal constraints on his authority to rewrite our laws and our Constitution.” She also wrote that, “The issue now is whether Congressional Republicans will knuckle under to the President, or whether they will act to protect our freedoms, our sovereignty, and our system of government.”

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  • Ingraham and her Fox colleagues decried an “imperial presidency” and was a president who was a “tyrant”

    • Then-radio personality, now current Fox News host Laura Ingraham claimed Obama wanted “to just be king for a day” and was “annoyed with the checks on his power.” [Mediaite, 1/28/14]

    • In a “Shut Up & Blog” post on her website, Ingraham repeatedly called Obama a “tyrant” and “would-be dictator,” and instructed Congress to restrict his power using “traditional instruments of Congressional authority.” [Lauraingraham.com via archive.org, 11/19/14, accessed 2/12/25] 

      Ingraham wrote:

    Going forward, there should be no question of giving the tyrant any more power, such as the power to negotiate binding new trade agreements that could affect an array of U.S. laws and regulations. And every spending measure should be carefully scrutinized to ensure that Congress is not giving the tyrant more power that he can abuse to the long-term detriment of this country. The tyrant's appointees should be subject to close and careful scrutiny, as the history of the last few years proves that they are motivated by partisanship and they cannot be trusted to cooperate voluntarily.

    …

    It's time to govern, and stop yielding more and more power to a man who evidently feels that there are no legal constraints on his authority to rewrite our laws and our Constitution. The Founders knew that it was possible for a charismatic would-be dictator to win his way into the White House, and they gave Congress and the states lots of weapons to defend themselves against such a tyrant. There's no point now in bemoaning the fact that our President wants to be a tyrant – he is what he is. The issue now is whether Congressional Republicans will knuckle under to the President, or whether they will act to protect our freedoms, our sovereignty, and our system of government.

    • Ingraham likened Obama's immigration action to “homegrown tyranny” of a “king.” Ingraham continued: “Memo to the Republicans: You must resist homegrown tyranny. This is the closest thing I have ever seen in my lifetime to soft dictatorship.” [Courtside Entertainment Group, The Laura Ingraham Show, 11/20/14]

    From the November 20, 2014 edition of Courtside Entertainment Group's The Laura Ingraham Show

    LAURA INGRAHAM (HOST): Imagine if that's just what we started to do. What do you think the Democrats would do? Well, let's — let's — let's expand it out to social issues. Oh, well, we have a lot of people who believe that their First Amendment rights have been violated in protesting near abortion clinics, prayerful protests. You know something? I know the Supreme Court has said this, that, or the other thing. And I know some of these, localities and states, they have some view about how close you can get to the front of an abortion clinic.

    But you know something? We're I'm actually, as president, as the king — as the new king, I am going to establish my own boundary, my own limitation because I think it's unfair for these people who've had their First Amendment rights trampled upon to be kept out of a particular zone of privacy. So I'm gonna give a reprieve to them for any prosecution. No federal prosecution. No federal penalties. No federal anything.

    We can keep doing this. I can keep going down a list, and you could do it with Obamacare. As king, the new king, new Republican king, I'm gonna say any individual that chooses not to buy health insurance, guess what? You're not gonna be subject to that IRS penalty. You're not gonna be subject to extra withholding. You are not gonna be penalized in any way because the system is broken.

    Congress hasn't done what I demand that it do, which is to repeal Obamacare. So I, as the chief executive, am going to prod Congress along. And when you do what you're supposed to do, Congress, then my executive order, I'm gonna rip it up. Obamacare, First Amendment issues, environmental issues, taxation issues. Where does this environmental issues, taxation issues. Where does this end? Does it ever end? At what point do we roll back this homegrown tyranny?

    I wrote a piece on the website, how the GOP must resist this homegrown tyranny. Must. Not — not might, not maybe, must. And this means every element of resistance must be employed. I know everyone is going to jump to impeach, impeach, impeach.

    I mean, you could impeach the president in the House of Representatives, you're not gonna be convicted in the Senate. Not gonna happen. Okay? So you could impeach the — I — I'm — I'm — I've not not been in favor of that. I don't think I think he's that would be his his saving grace.

    You impeach Obama, that's the biggest gift you can give Obama. That is he he's begging you to impeach him. I mean, at this point, that would be the only thing I could see that would rescue Obama is an impeachment proceeding.

    • Ingraham: “For eight years, George W. Bush, the establishment of the GOP, was mute during the tyranny of the Obama administration.” [Fox News, The Ingraham Angle, 3/6/18]

    From the March 6, 2018, edition of Fox News' The Ingraham Angle

    • Van Susteren and Karl Rove wondered if Obama was “acting like a dictator” because of his immigration executive orders. [Fox News, On the Record, 1/14/14]
    • Host Sean Hannity said Obama had instituted an “imperial presidency” and was ruling by “executive fiat.”  [Fox News, On the Record with Greta van Susteren, 1/28/14]

    GRETA VAN SUSTEREN (HOST): All right. Well, you just heard Laura Ingraham say that the president is annoyed and refers to his imperial presidency. 

    SEAN HANNITY (GUEST): I agree. She is 100% right. You know, we have separation of powers, coequal branches of government. For example, if Congress passes a law and the president signs it into law. Like Obamacare, he cannot unilaterally just decide oh, I'm not going to abide by certain provisions of the law. 

    … 

    I think they can complain. I think they got to use the courts. I think they need to speak more loudly. I think they need to inform people that we have coequal branches of government. I want louder voices. Because here's the problem, if you have an imperial presidency, he's ruling by executive fiat. That is not how our framers designed our Constitution and our Constitution matters. Otherwise we are shredding it. We shred it and the country itself is hurt.

  • During the Biden administration, Biden was called a “dictator” for issuing executive orders

    • Fox host Sean Hannity: “With the stroke of the pen, we’re losing tens of thousands of jobs. We've got governance by executive order on a level we have never seen in our history.” [Fox News, Hannity, 2/1/21] 

    From the February 1, 2021, edition of Fox News' Hannity

    SEAN HANNITY (HOST): Senator, you see the agenda. With the stroke of a pen, we're losing tens of thousands of job. We got governance by executive order on a level we've never seen in our history. We have trouble getting the COVID vaccine out to people. We have some real problems in the country. And on top of that, they're gonna now offer amnesty to 11 million people or path to amnesty at a time when Americans are out of work at the highest levels because of the pandemic and now because of the stroke of a pen of Joe Biden. What do they do? What do Republicans do to counter this to keep these jobs?

    • Host Mark Levin: “Biden's over 40 executive orders and actions violates separation of powers. We don't have a president who dresses up legislation as an executive order.” [Fox News, Hannity, 2/3/21] 
    • Hannity: “Joe’s ruling by executive order is basically ignoring an entire branch of government.” [Fox News, Hannity, 2/5/21]  
    • Co-host Lisa Boothe said Biden was “acting as a tyrant” for signing an executive order protecting access to reproductive healthcare following the overturning of Roe v. Wade. Boothe stated: “He's essentially acting as a tyrant, not wanting to respect the Supreme Court.” [Fox News, Outnumbered, 7/8/22; CNN, 7/8/22]  

    From the July 8, 2022, edition of Fox News' Outnumbered

    • Levin said Biden has “perfected the ability to rule like a dictator” by signing a historic number of executive orders. [Westwood One, The Mark Levin Show, 9/23/22] 

    • Levin also claimed that forgiving student debt via executive order is “unconstitutional,” “fascistic,” and “dictatorial.” He stated: “When Joe Biden issues an executive order giving up debt that is owed to the United States taxpayer, that is an unconstitutional act, that is a fascistic act by an out-of-control man who thinks he's got this kind of power … these kinds of dictatorial powers.” [Westwood One, The Mark Levin Show, 2/28/23]  

    Mark Levin calls Joe Biden's student loan debt forgiveness "fascistic” and “dictatorial”

    Mark Levin superimposed on a radio waveform image

    From the February 28, 2023, edition of Westwood One's The Mark Levin Show

    MARK LEVIN (HOST): President doesn't have any powers of this kind. None. And so when Joe Biden issues an executive order, giving up debt that is owed to the United States taxpayer, that is an unconstitutional act. That is a fascistic act by an out of control man who thinks he's got this kind of power. He signs executive orders left and right. And of course, he's cheered by the Marxists in the country, whether they be historians or media types or nut jobs in Congress. They hate the Constitution to begin with. But then they claim the Constitution gives a president these kinds of dictatorial powers.