In the darkest nightmares of his harshest critics,
Donald Trump is the second coming of Hitler.
We should look at Adolf Hitler in 1929.
The number of prominent people comparing you to
Adolf Hitler is actually growing by the day
Wait, no.
He's a mashup of Venezuela's Chavez,
Italy's Berlusconi,
and Turkey's Erdogan.
Actually, scratch that. He's Bane from Batman.
We are transferring power
and giving it back to you, the people.
Are we really living in an authoritarian,
dystopian nightmare world?
Or is that an exaggeration?
There's a lot that separates these guys,
beyond the fact that one is a fictional supervillain.
But they all have at least one thing in common.
All could be described as populist authoritarians.
According to the political scientists
Pippa Norris and Ronald Ingelhart,
this type of leader combines two big ideas.
The first is populism.
Populists often claim that they alone represent ordinary people
present themselves as outsiders challenging corrupt elites,
maintain direct links to their followers through rallies, TV, social media.
And interpret election results as permission to govern as they wish.
Even if that means disregarding minority rights
and the separation of government powers.
The second is authoritarianism.
Authoritarians often implement tough security measures
against threats from outsiders,
promote a nativist brand of nationalism,
demonstrate little tolerance of multiculturalism
and exercise a concentrated form of power
involving strong, charismatic leadership.
And it's a good time to be a populist authoritarian.
The growth of democracies in the world has stalled.
And in the Western world, where there are democracies
populist authoritarian politicians are gaining strength.
So will Donald Trump be America's first
populist authoritarian president?
Trump definitely fits the mold of a populist.
Claiming to exclusively embody the will of the people
rather than the establishment?
Check.
I alone can fix it.
Communicating directly with his followers? Check.
The fact that I have such power
in terms of numbers with Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc.
I think it helped me win.
Prioritizing election results over
other aspects of democracy like free speech?
Check.
As for whether Trump is an authoritarian?
Well, you could say he has authoritarian instincts.
You could even say he's authoritarian-curious.
But here things are a bit more complicated.
Trump is without a doubt a nationalist
who favors harsh measures to protect the homeland
against external threats.
I am going to keep radical Islamic terrorists
the hell out of our country!
He has also repeatedly praised authoritarian leaders
for their strength and use of violence against opponents.
Saddam Hussein was a bad guy, right?
But you know what he did well?
He killed terrorists.
He did that so good.
And then of course, there's the admiration for Vladimir Putin
he's been expressing since at least 2013.
Do you like Vladimir Putin's comments about you?
Sure, when people call you brilliant it's always good
especially when the person heads up Russia.
Still, it's important to note,
Trump has not expressed a contempt for democracy
that other authoritarians have.
Erdogan has arrested thousands of political opponents
and wiped out freedom of the press in Turkey.
Chavez tried to create a one-party state in Venezuela.
Trump has no such record of anti-democratic measures.
The United States is one of the oldest democracies in the world.
And our political system has more checks on power
than most other democracies.
But American democracy has rarely been under such stress.
One study of democracies around the world
recently downgraded the United States
to a flawed democracy.
President Trump has broken with democratic norms
like not releasing his tax returns,
while also bullying the press press
and spreading conspiracy theories about massive voter fraud.
We might not be in an authoritarian dystopia,
but this is how the story often starts.
This is Unpresidented.
A weekly series where different Atlantic writers
explore what's happening in this new era
of American politics.
Let us know in the comments what you want us to tackle next.
I'm Uri Friedman, and thanks for watching.