Ever Wondered How Authoritarianism Happens?
The Trumps are Gaslighting a Collapsing America
Ever Wondered How Authoritarianism Happens?
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Last night, the world watched America turn into North Korea. Or at least Washington, DC. By way of the absurd, comical, jaw-dropping spectacle that Trump’s made of the RNC.
If Monty Python to wanted to write a parody of textbook authoritarianism, they couldn’t do any better. What cliched, farcical elements of authoritarianism were there, on loud, violent display?
Not just the general atmosphere of gloating and sneering, rage and contempt. Not even the fact that the White House was pimped for political gain. Nor even the build-up speeches from functionaries, like the Secretary of State, that consisted of…nothing whatsoever but veneration and prostration to the immaculate perfection of Dear Leader.
There was the fact that much of the night consisted of…well…Trumps. Authoritarianism is a family business — Big Daddy builds a dynasty, and his kids pick up the mantle. That was the message of Eric and Tiffany Trump giving equally bizarre speeches. Imagine for a moment if Hunter Biden or Malia Obama gave a speech at the DNC. The nation’s pundits would be in an uproar. But Eric Trump? Apparently that’s OK, because we’ve all been worn down by Trump’s transgressions by now. What on earth do Eric and Tiffany Trump have to say about…anything? What do they know about…anything? Yet there they were. Why? Let me make the import of this moment clear.
The authoritarian is now grooming his kids to take over the family business, which is dictatorship, the abuse of power, fascism. That is a very, very bad sign. It is a thing that happens when democracies are about to break and die. It tells us the authoritarian is confident he can break the back of a society. That he doesn’t care at all anymore who knows he intends to do it. It is not to be taken lightly. It is as massive, flagrant, loud abuse of power — and warning sign — there can be. It’s not just a comical moment, though it’s usually funny to watch a dictator’s idiot kids on podiums. It means that authoritarianism is growing in scale, scope, reach, confidence, power, gravity, aspiration, developing a long game, capable of reaching across generations, emboldened to keep a stranglehold on democracy.
Then there was Melania’s even more bizarre speech. Styled in a military jacket — designer authoritarian-chic — Melania detailed how Trump was just a man fighting impossible odds, doing his best, heroically, for a troubled nation. He was strong and wise. He was always there when you needed him. And thanks to him, America was doing better than it ever had before. And by the way, if you’d lost someone to Covid, Melania extended you her warmest sympathies.
Wait, what? 170,000 — no, wait, 180,000 dead now — and counting. If my spouse had been responsible for…mass death…you know what? I’d probably get a divorce. Even if — no, especially if — they were the head of state. Let me make the meaning of this moment, too, crystal clear.
Melania was there to gaslight an entire nation. Think about it this way. Mafias need good guys and bad guys. The bad guy threatens to break your legs. The good guys pals around with you, acts like your friend, and pretends nobody’s threatened to break your legs. What, us? We’re Goodfellas!
That was Melania’s job. To gaslight an entire nation. Into believing the fictional alternate reality the Trumpists are trying to construct, and always have. Yesterday, that fictional alternate reality was: hated minorities like Latinos are responsible for all of America’s problems, they’re the reason you, the “real” American, don’t have healthcare, a job, money in the bank, dignity, self-worth, purpose and so forth — not your own stupid, self-destructive choices at the voting booth for the last four decades or so. Today, that fictional alternate reality is: Trump’s a hero! He rescued the economy! And Covid would be so much worse if he hadn’t intervened! He’s perfect!
Wait, what? 180,000 dead and counting, 30 million unemployed, 50 million facing eviction, a massive wave of bankruptcies, an economy teetering into depression, the worst public health crisis since…forever. That’s reality. Trump is the worst President there’s ever been, and that’s not a political statement — it’s an objective empirical reality.
That disjuncture between what reality is and what the authoritarians need it to be is precisely why Melania gave that speech. Someone needs to gaslight the country, so that it doesn’t believe — or at least parts of it don’t believe, and I’ll come to that — in empirical reality. If people comfortably believed in reality, authoritarianism would never win, and yet instead it makes up most of human history. Hence, the absurd divergences — “Trump rescued the economy, he fixed Covid, etc”, while the bodies pile up by the hundreds of thousands, and people go broke by the millions. Who better than Melania to do it?
(After all, she’s not really a Trump, is she? The impression is that she’s somehow innocent of the abuses of power and hate and brutality of the “real” Trumps, because she’s just some kind of hapless immigrant, a dumb model, a powerless prisoner, a damsel in distress. But do you really gaslight an entire country if you…just want out?)
You might well ask something like “OK, Umair, Melania’s job was to gaslight a country, sure. But who on earth is dumb enough to buy this guff? Come on! LOL.” The answer to that, sadly, funnily, idiotically, would be…all of America’s intellectual class. I woke up, as you did, to op-ed after op-ed gushing over what a wonderful job Melania had done. How warm and fuzzy she’d been. How she’d connected with people, and displayed noble human qualities. How empathetic and kind and gentle and sweet she was. So brave! So strong. So courageous. Love you, Melania!
Wait, what?
“She rounds out his rough edges.” She’s literally on a podium conditioning Americans to get used to mass death, depression, brutality, incompetence, corruption, stupidity, hate, lies —presenting a “softer side” to authoritarianism. Making it “palatable.” And the American pundit celebrates it because it’s said with a winsome smile, not realizing that that was the point. Because she managed to acknowledge the pandemic that the RNC had managed to ignore until that point. To sympathize with families. The bar is so low, my friends. The bar is in hell. The answer to the question: “who on earth is dumb enough to believe in the gaslighting of America, at the point of literal mass death?” is, sadly, too many in a position of mainstream intellectual and cultural power in America.
That’s a big problem. Because while you might say to yourself, “Phew, I’m glad I don’t read the dumb NYT op-ed page anymore!” the question is: do you really get the danger American democracy’s in? As in, really get it?
Let me ask that another way, with a much more visceral question.
If I was to say to you that America’s one step away from having classic features of authoritarian societies like secret polices and death squads, would you believe me? Probably not. “Death squads!” you chuckle to yourself. “Is this guy for real? LOL.”
So I invite you to take a look at Kenosha, Wisconsin. Where the police apparently shot yet another unarmed black man…in the back…for no reason whatsoever…multiple times. And now armed “white supremacist militias” are roaming the streets beating and maybe shooting people at will.
Those, my friends, are one step away from death squads.
Yes, really. And secret polices? Don’t forget who was beating moms and disappearing people in Portland just a few short weeks ago.
So let me ask you again. Do you really understand the danger America’s in?
My guess is that you don’t. That’s OK. You probably don’t have experience with authoritarianism. You’ve never experienced it, lived through it, seen its horrors up close and personal, suffered its abuses and depredations.
Let us survivors of authoritarianism warn you. This is not a drill. It’s not a game. It is the real thing.
When a spectacular event like the RNC takes place, it is a powerful signal. When kids are groomed for power, when spouses are rolled out to gaslight a country, when the house of government is used for political theatre — all that is telling you something. This is the real deal. It is authoritarian fascism of the absolute and lethal kind. It’s funny, until it’s deadly. Its objective is to murder democracy. To kill off its institutions — the rule of law, constitutions, rights, freedoms — and replace them with fascist-authoritarian ones, like secret polices, cronies, death squads, show trials, mock democracy, power held for life, and dynastically passed on to kids.
This is 100% real.
Now let me come back to you. If you’re the sane and thoughtful American, you’re probably equal parts amused and horrified by this spectacle. That’s OK, too. But don’t forget. You’re not the target. They don’t care if you’re laughing at them, the authoritarians. Why not?
The target is the minority of committed fanatics it takes to bring down a society. It’s never — never — taken a majority, from Stalinist Russia, to Nazi Germany, to Islam now. The goal is to drive them into a frenzy, a mania. By sending them all the signals above. “Wow, one of us can hold power forever,” thinks the Trumpist, watching the little Trumps give their bizarre speeches. Their hearts pound in anticipation. “Things really are getting better!! What a great guy Trump is!” thinks the Trumpist, watching Melania gaslight a nation. They grin in triumph.
The point is to drive the fanatical minority to a frenzy. So that they vote like never before.
Meanwhile, you? The sane American? The bad news is that you don’t vote. Maybe not you, specifically, but you, generally. America has the lowest voter participation rate in the rich world, by a very long way. Just above 50%. That’s barely a democracy at all, if you think about it. And mostly, it’s sane, thoughtful Americans who don’t vote — the fanatics and extremists on the right do. That’s how they’ve captured society’s political institutions wholesale, all the way to the White House.
The authoritarian personality grasps all of this intuitively. They don’t need pollsters to tell them, usually. They just know. That the good people don’t vote. That the silent majority stays silent. And so all they have to do is goad and whip their base into a manic, hysterical state, and then use it to capture power forever. If you think I’m kidding, go ahead and take a look at Iran, Russia, North Korea.
Let me distill the point I’m trying to make. Authoritarianism means “most of us didn’t want this.” That’s the part Americans still don’t get, I think. They seem to imagine, too many of them, that simply laughing at the bad guys is going to defeat them. It’s not.
This is how authoritarian collapses happen. All this. Exactly. An aspiring tyrant who’s abused power for years jokes about never leaving office. He builds a dynasty in plain sight. His wife gaslights the nation. The intellectuals have never read a history book — and they appear to have no clue, and normalize all this as just another legitimate kind of politics, through op-eds that glorify it all. But fascism is not legitimate, not normal. It’s deeply abnormal.
Meanwhile, the nascent institutions of real violence begin to emerge. Today’s paramilitaries are tomorrow’s death squads. Today’s phalanx of mysterious men without badges are tomorrow’s secret police. Today’s vigilante mobs are tomorrow’s SS’s, and today’s true believers are tomorrow’s Gestapos. Today’s “lock her up!” is tomorrow’s show trial. Today’s “enemies of the people!” is tomorrow’s opponents, rivals, dissidents thrown in camps — what did you think those camps were for? All of that is what’s on the cards.
Let us survivors of authoritarianism warn you. This is how it happens. Exactly how it happens. From the aspiring tyrant announcing his intention to stay in power, to the dynastic politics, to the intellectual class normalizing it all, to the still silent majority — America deviates not one inch from the time-tested textbook of how societies collapse.
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