https://reluctant-citizen.unsigned.blog/tags/authoritarianism/Recent content in Authoritarianism on Reluctant CitizenHugoen-USSat, 31 Oct 2026 10:16:00 -0400https://reluctant-citizen.unsigned.blog/history-has-seen-this-before-trump-and-the-authoritarian-playbook/Sat, 31 Oct 2026 10:16:00 -0400https://reluctant-citizen.unsigned.blog/history-has-seen-this-before-trump-and-the-authoritarian-playbook/On August 25, 2025, in the Oval Office, the president of the United States responded to critics who called him a dictator. “A lot of people are saying maybe we like a dictator,” Donald Trump said. “I don’t like a dictator. I’m not a dictator.” The next day, at a Cabinet meeting, he said it again: “So the line is that I’m a dictator, but I stop crime. So a lot of people say, ‘If that’s the case, I’d rather have a dictator.’ But I’m not a dictator.” Some of his Cabinet members laughed.https://reluctant-citizen.unsigned.blog/the-crazy-things-trump-says-part-1-strongmen-loyalty-and-the-press/Tue, 27 Oct 2026 11:16:11 +0000https://reluctant-citizen.unsigned.blog/the-crazy-things-trump-says-part-1-strongmen-loyalty-and-the-press/There is a habit in American politics of laughing off what Donald Trump says. It was a joke. It was sarcasm. He was trolling. Take him seriously, not literally. Some of the time, that defense is fair, and I will tell you when his side said it. But after ten years of campaigns and two terms in office, the words have piled up into a pattern, and the pattern is not funny.