Sentence:  `` It is as though '' , I said on the historic three-hour , coast-to-coast radio broadcast which I bought ( following Father Coughlin and <WSD>pre</WSD> empting the Eddie Cantor , Manhattan Merry-go-round and Major Bowes shows ) `` That Man in the White House , like some despot of yore , insisted on reading my diary , raiding my larder and ransacking my lingerie ! '' 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  acquire for oneself before others can do so