I remind the reader of my penchant for recreational lying, the purpose of which is not to deceive but to entertain, lest the reader misunderstand my tranquility under the threat of Donals Trump becoming dictator for life.

Whew! I am so relieved. I’d read a combination of news items that shook me to the core. Liz Cheney, whose politics do nothing for me, but whose profile in courage includes telling the truth about the orange snake oil salesman at the price of losing her congressional seat, declared that reelection of Trump could produce a U.S. dictatorship. She said there’s no question whether once in office he’ll try again to stay there even if defeated in an election. He’d be prepared this time.

Trump would find a vice president who’d pledge doing all that Mike Pence refused to do in messing with electors. He’d have Army officers he could count on, a slavish attorney general, and so on.

I also read Robert Kagan’s Washington Post article titled “A Trump dictatorship is increasingly inevitable. We should stop pretending,” in which he impressively argues there is a clear path to dictatorship for Trump.

Kagan notes the polls indicate Trump is a shoo-in for the nomination and he’s tied or ahead of President Joe Biden in the latest polls. Kagan argues we’ve been living in self-delusion, “conducting business as usual, taking no dramatic action to change course,” and the imminent anointment of Trump as the presumptive Republican nominee will produce a “dramatic shift in the political power dynamic, in his favor” as the possibility of Republicans speaking out against Trump shuts down.

When Trump wins on Super Tuesday, the money will follow the votes and people will fall in line.

Next, Kagan predicts, the other Republican candidates race toward Trump, hoping to become his loyal running mate, there being “no surer and shorter path to the presidency for a Republican.” Once Trump is nominated, it will be impossible to say a negative word about him. The party will quickly unify behind Trump and with this unity and the money that goes with it, Trump will be ready for Biden.

Kagan notes that Biden will be confronted by a divided party, and running as an incumbent without the usual advantages of incumbency because Trump too is a former president.

Kagan lists various other advantages for Trump, among which is Trump’s running on a “platform of using unprecedented power to get things done, to hell with the rules,” and there are many who are looking for just that in a leader.

After reading these sources warning against Trump the Dictator, I recalled his adoration of Vladimir Putin and his bromance with Kim Jong Un. There seems to be no question that tyrants spark affection, admiration, even adoration in our beloved leader, er, uh, I mean our former president.

And then there has been his half-baked denial of plans for dictatorship when he says he will only be a dictator on day one. If this is his plan, who can say he won’t like it so much he’ll decide to continue?

Or more in his style, will he, on day two, say you all misheard me when I said only on week one or only on year one. Knowing the Trump we have all observed during the eternity he has been the focal point of political attention in this country, can anyone argue he would never do such a thing?

If we accept him at his word, he still wins. If he has the right or the power to declare himself dictator for a day, and we agree to this, then he has established that the president can declare himself the dictator for as long as he chooses.

Whew! After all the above, you can imagine how relieved I was to hear Trump’s campaign workers assure us there is no truth to these stories. Apparently, the whole truth is that he only brings up being a dictator to rattle the cages of left-wing journalists. Sean Hannity, an inspiration to all who seek the truth, tried to clear the air, but Trump insisted on being dictator for a day.

What finally convinced me there was nothing to worry about was Trump’s Iowa speech, where he revealed that Biden is the real destroyer of democracy — coupled with the lofty commitment of Republicans in the House of Representatives to impeach the dictator Biden during the election year.

Richard S. Bogartz is professor emeritus of psychology at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.