I wonder if there’s been any scholarly research on that? It seems on reflection that it’s actually fairly common for autocrats to not only be foul, destructive, self-absorbed pieces of shit, but for them and their supporters to treat that as some sort of badge of honor.
More broadly, it’s striking me that there are likely dominant moods in countries - periods during which for instance, a plurality of progressives elects a progressive or a plurality of patriots elects a patriot or a plurality of warmongers elects a warmonger.
And the current US is a plurality of assholes who elected an asshole (two for the price of one even).
yes. there have been scholarly efforts in this domain. effectively authoritarians vote purely out of the fear that something bad will come for them so they vote in people who promise to be big and tough and scary towards those threats. ironically, this incentivizes the people getting voted in to intensify how awful things are for people because it benefits them personally.
There are no depths to which he will not stoop.
And that’s part of what his fans like about him.
I wonder if there’s been any scholarly research on that? It seems on reflection that it’s actually fairly common for autocrats to not only be foul, destructive, self-absorbed pieces of shit, but for them and their supporters to treat that as some sort of badge of honor.
More broadly, it’s striking me that there are likely dominant moods in countries - periods during which for instance, a plurality of progressives elects a progressive or a plurality of patriots elects a patriot or a plurality of warmongers elects a warmonger.
And the current US is a plurality of assholes who elected an asshole (two for the price of one even).
yes. there have been scholarly efforts in this domain. effectively authoritarians vote purely out of the fear that something bad will come for them so they vote in people who promise to be big and tough and scary towards those threats. ironically, this incentivizes the people getting voted in to intensify how awful things are for people because it benefits them personally.