Beau Willimon, the writer, producer, and creator of the American adaptation of the hit Netflix drama House of Cards, warned his Twitter followers on Monday, saying a “portion of the American population” wants “a mob-boss in the White House.”

Specifically, Willimon states that President Donald Trump and elected Republicans are “preparing their base for the argument that the president is above the law, an argument applicable only to Trump.”
Willimon began a 12-tweet thread by making the case that the desire to give President Trump “unchecked power” is precisely the type of thing that “gives rise to dictators.”

Willimon uses Bill Clinton as an example of a president who was held accountable by the law, on the same day that Bill Clinton angrily denied that he should have resigned during the Monica Lewinsky scandal. On the contrary, the former president claimed that he defended the Constitution, denied owing Monica Lewinsky an apology for their affair, and asserted that he was also a victim.

Willimon also claims that Republicans don’t seek a “national unity.” Indeed, the House of Cards creator voiced no such dire warnings about national unity when then-Senator Barack Obama denounced Pennsylvanians and midwesterners in 2008 referring to them  as “bitter” people who “cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren’t like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations.”

Willimon spent the next few tweets foretelling of a coming Republican propaganda offensive geared toward making Trump “above the law.” A movement which the Hollywood writer claims the GOP base is “hungry for.”

Though, after warning of dangers to come, Willimon reminds his followers of the tools they have to resist the “suppression and gerrymandering attempts” from the right.

In many ways, the specter of President Trump that Willimon describes comes quite close to the “above the law” figure of President Underwood (Kevin Spacey) in House of Cards. Though, while the Kevin Spacey character certainly did whatever he had to do to win, legal or not, Willamon’s central contention appears to by not only that Trump wants to be a dictator, but that the base of the Republican party also wants him to be a dictator. An assertion not supported by evidence, anywhere in his thread.

Follow Dylan Gwinn on Twitter @themightygwinn