Can a Despised Autocrat Consolidate Power?
Posted4 months agoActive4 months ago
paulkrugman.substack.comOtherstory
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AutocracyPower ConsolidationPublic Opinion
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Autocracy
Power Consolidation
Public Opinion
The article discusses whether a despised autocrat can consolidate power, sparking a discussion on the role of public opinion, emotional responses, and the nature of authoritarian rule.
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- 01Story posted
Sep 9, 2025 at 9:39 AM EDT
4 months ago
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Sep 9, 2025 at 9:47 AM EDT
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4 months ago
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(As an outsider, I still find it unbelievable that so many people would vote for him)
In my book, if people took liberal democracy serious, he should have been persona-non-grata in the eyes of every politician and political party.
Instead he was saved from impeachment by McConnel rehabilitated by McCarthy, and people increasing memory-holed the event, equivocated about George Floyd protests (not even remotely comparable), or were supporters of the "heroes of J6"... now we are where we are, well-cooked frogs in a pot that's about the boil over.
This would have been the easiest way to get rid of him, but not enough people bothered. Why would you expect them to do something harder now?
I also have my doubts about what would happen if he makes up some bullshit excuse to stay in power for a third term - who would actually remove him from office?
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/08/us/politics/supreme-court...
The majority did vote against him. He won in 2024 with 49.8% plurality.
Think about that photo of blood coming from a nicked ear evoking Jesus Christ on the cross. That's the photo that made him into a god and won him the election. It's all about the persecution.
But (a) there's always spread on survey values, so this could be cherry picked / optimistic reading, (b) people's sympathies en masse are not super logical, but rather emotional. He was never elected for rational reasons. People just like him and like his "vibe", and I can imagine they will continue to like him even while he saws at the branch they are sitting on.
Obviously only up to a point, and I'm confident that point will come, but it's not obvious to me (IANAAmerican) that it's there yet.
Though that's a bit misleading. It was all downhill from there. People thought he handled COVID pretty well at the beginning, but once the lockdowns started to ease, he fell down into basically the same range Trump is now. He left with a 38% approval rating, same as Trump today.
Never getting above 50% certainly does seem to place Trump in a special category of dislike. But he does at least have some support -- the lowest approval rating ever was for Bush 43 at 19% (leading to speculative articles about what that 19% could possibly find to like).
Yes!