PoliticsDonald Trump Marveled Over His 'Power' Being Compared to Hitler's, Author Claims: 'He Is Trying to Be a Napoleonic Type of Figure'
Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan shared stories from their time with the president.
June 23 2026, Updated 3:24 p.m. ET
New York Times reporters Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan spilled more tea on The View as their bombshell book Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump goes viral.
While on the Tuesday, June 23, episode of the series, Haberman admitted writing the piece "nearly killed us."
Inside Their 'Most Astonishing' Encounter With Donald Trump
Author Jonathan Swan detailed an 'astonishing' meeting where Donald Trump boasted about his 'raw power.'
Swan went on to detail a concerning gathering he had with the president, admitting, "I've had a few encounters with Donald Trump over the years. This was the most astonishing."
Swan said they were "sitting across the table from him in the Oval Office" on the 17th day of the war with Iran, but the POTUS had little interest in talking about the conflict.
Donald Trump Is Fixated on Power
The president had a document that compared him to dictators.
The authors decided to ask Trump about his past comment to Tucker Carlson, in which he claimed he was "the most powerful American president there ever has been."
In response, Trump showed them printouts he claimed were "from a historian."
"The document compares him favorably in terms of his power to Mao, Stalin, Hitler, Napoleon, Genghask Khan, Alexander the Great, the Caesars," Swan explained.
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Maggie Haberman and Jonathan Swan dished on their book on the Tuesday, June 23, episode of 'The View.'
When one of The View co-hosts asked if Trump thought "that was a good thing," Swan replied, "There was no moral dimension to it. It was just about the metric of raw power."
"And he was sitting there, relishing, and he said, 'Napoleon, that's very interesting. Hitler. Mao! Stalin!" Swan recalled. "And we were sort of sitting there, going, okay..."
'That's His Mindset for This Term'
Jonathan Swan believes the POTUS has a different mindset during his second term in the Oval Office.
They eventually found out that the "historian" in question was actually a "former golf caddy."
Swan said their encounter was "illuminating," as it showed that in this term, the POTUS is "taking these giant risks that he didn't take in term one."
"He wouldn't have gone to war in Iran given the same circumstance. He wouldn't gone in and snatched a sovereign leader out of his bedroom in his pajamas like he did in Venezuela, start a trade war with the whole world," he shared. "He, as he made clear to us, is trying to be a Napoleonic type of figure, a capital G, great man figure of this era. That's his mindset for this term."
Joy Behar believes the president suffers from megalomania.
"I think it's called megalomania, I believe, is the diagnosis," Joy Behar noted, which Merriam Webster defines as "a delusional mental illness that is marked by feelings of personal omnipotence and grandeur."
Swan laughed and responded, "I've read about that."
