Day One

You’re not going to be a dictator, are you?  No, no, no. Other than Day One.

It's a clever response.

"Day one" is a means of expressing one's highest priority. Politicians like to say: On day one, I'll do this. On day one, I'll do that. Same here: top priority.

And yet, grammatically, the sentence means only for one day. The first day, mind you, but just that one.

Actually, the first paragraph above is Trump's rephrasing of the question and answer. The original question was, "You are promising America tonight you would never abuse power as retribution against anybody?"

"Except for Day One."

Trump is being evasive, a particular skill of his. It ensures that he can avoid responsibility. You can't pin blame when there are multiple interpretations. Mafia dons talk this way. 

So let's not try to interpret exactly what he meant or how he meant it. Consider instead what happened on Day One, inauguration day, January 20, 2017.

It began with a promise to listen to the people: "Everyone is listening to you now." It ended with a refusal to listen to the people.

It began with raging about a minority in charge and a promise to return power to the people: "January 20th 2017 will be remembered as the day the people became the rulers of this nation again." It ended with insisting that a majority vote of those people did not count.

Immediately after the inaugural speech, the lies escalated. The new president forced his press secretary to claim the largest crowd ever. This was clearly not true, and vanity was not the point. It was an assertion that this president could disregard any semblance of truth. By the end of his term, the number of documented falsehoods stood at 30,573. Self-proclaimed defenders of Truth swooned.

Authoritarians will look you in the eye and tell you something you and they know is not true. You are not in a position to contradict, so the lie stands and you are put in your place. The rules are established: I am more important than you. What I say is more important than truth. If anyone disagrees, there will be consequences.

If the main character on Day One in 2025 is the same as for inauguration day 2017, a new lie will set the tone. A flood of lies will follow. Revenge against anyone who disagrees with those lies will begin.

"Great America" will be a whopper. Fail to swallow it, and expect abuse of power as retribution. No one abandons their first priority after Day One.