Photograph by Nathaniel St. Clair
One takeaway from Ruth Ben-Ghiat’s excellent book, Strongmen, Mussolini to the Present, is that there is a playbook pursuant to which all authoritarians take and maintain power—think Hitler, Mussolini, Putin, Kim Jong Un (and nearly five dozen other authoritarian-led countries around the globe.
The United States of America is not yet officially included in the authoritarian column. It is, though, included in the list of “flawed democracies,” or those in “anocracy.”
That said, it is my opinion that our Country is now, in fact and full on, in the grips of authoritarianism. While authoritarian governments arise often via popular uprising or military coup, they may also come into existence as a result of the peaceful transfer of power from one leader to another.
In this latter fashion, our Country’s slide into authoritarianism has occurred right under our noses. Donald J. Trump began this transition with his failed insurrection on January 6, 2021. And, since his re-election in 2024 as President, Trump has followed the authoritarian’s playbook to the letter.
The blueprint for Trumps’s authoritarianism is the Heritage Foundation’s white, nationalistic, conservative Project 2025. Moreover, Trump’s mission to push America into authoritarianism has been aided by his lickspittles on the US Supreme Court,on the federal bench and in the MAGA, Republican Congress.
Trump, himself, however, is checking off the boxes in the authoritarian’s playbook. Here’s a short summary from the playbook:
Draw up an enemies list—either you are with me or you are against me. Govern for the party in power, not for all the people. Intimidate, bully, marginalize and crush any opposition.
Prosecute, persecute and punish your enemies at every opportunity, even if you have to create false charges and facts to do so.
Systematically demonize the press as being the enemy of the people; contend that truth is fake news. Either delegitimize the press or control and use it as a propaganda tool.
Lie, lie, lie—the bigger the lie the better, because people believe that the most outrageous and improbable lie must be true, or else no one would say it in the first place. Deny actual truth and create in its place alternate facts, fiction, or fantasy. Propagandize with false information and conspiracy theories.
Deny science.
Frustrate, hinder, and suppress people exercising their constitutional rights—e.g. people exercising their First Amendment right to assemble peaceably and to exercise their right to vote in untainted and free elections.
Weaponize the military against the people so as to sow fear and paranoia and to aid in frustrating peoples’ exercise of their constitutional rights.
Meld political ideology and religious ideology to support a white Christian nationalistic agenda.
Control the Courts; bully, delegitimize and politicize the judiciary. Control judicial elections and appointments so only those loyal to the party line become judges; eliminate constitutional separation of powers and checks and balances.
Destroy the Rule of Law–use laws to reward supporters and to punish opponents; ignore laws not in accord with the party line; ignore court orders; disrespect civil authority. Knowingly enact unconstitutional laws; then blame “activist” judges when those laws are challenged and overturned. The Rule of Law becomes the Rule of Lie.
Dissolve, weaken, hobble or delegitimize regulatory agencies and consolidate all power in the unitary executive, i.e. the dictator.
Politicize the civil service, the military and law enforcement; demand personal and professional loyalty to the executive.
Involve government in surveilling the press, reporters, political opponents and those on the enemies list.
Fearmonger and demonize minorities, LGBTQ+ communities, trans people, the disabled, immigrants, and the powerless; make them the scapegoats for societies’ social and economic ills. Weaponize and inflame racial and social prejudices.
Trash civil rights and liberties in favor of partisan and religious ideology.
Marginalize and bully women; trash their gender-specific rights and needs; empower government to control their reproductive functions; keep them submissive to the white patriarchy.
Always project hyper-masculinity and machoism.
Disenfranchise voters. Promote spurious conspiracy theories and lies claiming election fraud, stolen elections and voting irregularities. Demand recounts and audits of elections held and certified in accordance with governing laws. Sue on false claims without evidentiary support. Suppress the vote and make it harder and more inconvenient to vote. Subvert election results. Gerrymander and do everything possible to rig the system so that only the party faithful are elected. Empower the legislature to ignore the popular vote and change the results of elections. Hold on to power at all costs and with any tactics.
Manipulate the economy to the executive’s favor and profit.
Never pass up the opportunity to make money and gain power.
Sound familiar? It should, because Trump has checked off every one of these boxes already, and he’s yet to complete this first year of his second term.
He not only admires authoritarian leaders, now he is one of them.
The goal of all authoritarians, Trump included, is to control all branches and functions of government and to conform those and the minds of the people to his rule and ideology.
The authoritarian is the only one who counts. Indeed, every decision Trump makes is grounded in four considerations: 1. Will it make me look good? 2. Will I make money doing it? 3. Will it give me more power? and 4. Can I punish my enemies doing it?
John Maynard Keynes observed that, “Perhaps it is historically true that no order of society ever perishes save by its own hand.” Democracy can die from within, not from without.
But, Ben-Ghiat’s book demonstrates that every authoritarian, or fascist leader or dictator, at one time or another, meets the same fate: he or she is assassinated, is arrested, tried, convicted and imprisoned or executed, is deposed and exiled, commits suicide or, less often, is voted out of office.
Authoritarians, like Trump, use the playbook to obtain and maintain power. But this form of government is anathema to people who have enjoyed being free, who have lived in a Constitutional democracy, and who have been governed by leaders with character, integrity, honesty and who abide by the rule of law.
In our case, the voters elected Trump. And, ultimately, it will be up to the voters to throw off this yoke of authoritarianism and to take our Country back to democracy.
While following the authoritarian playbook may have enabled Trump get to where he is today, it is we the people who will, eventually, vote Trump and those like him into the manure pile of history, where they all belong.
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