Numerous scary details came out of Donald Trump’s recent interview with Time magazine, but few were more eye opening than an exchange that, in my opinion, didn’t garner the attention it deserved.
When asked about his authoritarian rhetoric regarding being a “dictator for a day” and “suspending the Constitution,” Trump responded, saying, “I think a lot of people like it.”
Now, in fairness, Trump insisted that he was only joking and “being sarcastic” when he said these things. Moreover, he suggested that normal people get it, while the overwrought press (who find joking about these things dangerous and are worried about “norms” and the “social fabric”) keep getting trolled by him.
This argument breaks down, however, when you consider that some of Trump’s most loyal fans took him seriously and literally when he summoned them to the Capitol on Jan. 6. Many of those rioters (or, as Trump calls them, hostages) said they were simply taking their marching orders from the president.
Trump may have committed something of a Kinsley gaffe in that Time interview, which is to say that he inadvertently revealed something truthful: Many of Trump’s supporters like authoritarian talk, and a subset of those folks probably wouldn’t mind a real dictator (so long as their guy was the autocrat).
But is it possible that more than a handful of kooks feel this way?
Globally, authoritarianism has always had an appeal. According to a recent Pew Research Center survey, “…a median of 31 percent across 24 nations are supportive of authoritarian systems…” and “people on the ideological right are more likely” than others to support it.
There seems to be a deep-seated romantic yearning inherent in the human psyche that causes many people to prefer a despot over the messiness and abstractness delivered by liberal forms of government.
But what about America? We are, after all, a liberal nation that has all sorts of institutions and ideas (such as the rule of law, checks and balances, etc.) to guard against the passions of the mob, as well as the potential rise of strongmen.
Well, it turns out that we might not be so exceptional after all. According to a PRRI survey released last year, “Just under four in ten Americans (38 percent) agree with the statement, ‘Because things have gotten so far off track in this country, we need a leader who is willing to break some rules if that’s what it takes to set things right…’”
The number is even higher for Republicans, with nearly half (48 percent) of GOP respondents agreeing with the statement.
(Note: The largest cohort to agree were Hispanic Catholics—at 51 percent—which could be a telling development for those trying to discern why Trump has been doing better among some minority voters, despite his racism.)
Arguably even more alarming, the PRRI survey also showed that “nearly a quarter of Americans (23 percent) agree that ‘because things have gotten so far off track, true American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save our country…’”
These measurements are buttressed by scholar and authoritarian expert Matthew C. MacWilliams, who, in 2020, surmised that “approximately 18 percent of Americans are highly disposed to authoritarianism,” while “23 percent or so are just one step below them on the authoritarian scale.”
When added up, MacWilliams says that “roughly 40 percent of Americans tend to favor authority, obedience, and uniformity over freedom, independence, and diversity.”
Now, it’s fair to say that someone could favor a robust law-and-order regime and still not want an out-and-out dictatorship. But few dictators show up saying they want to be dictators; it’s easy to see the slippery slope between what these surveys measure and an authoritarian regime.
The good news is that authoritarianism is still not a majority position. Still, how many of us would have guessed a few years ago that so many of our fellow Americans harbored these authoritarian tendencies?
Most of us would have assumed that espousing dictator rhetoric would be a death knell for any modern American politician. But somehow, Trump instinctively understood something that the rest of us did not.
This is why, despite two impeachments, four indictments, the comments about being “dictator for a day,” etc., Trump is either winning or tied with Joe Biden in most polls.
If you want to understand why Trump continues to say outrageous things that would seem to go against his political interests, the survey numbers mentioned previously suggest there’s a method to his madness. As Trump said, “a lot of people like it.”
And because Donald Trump can win the presidency with less than 50 percent of the vote, it might just be enough to win the 2024 presidential election (which, hopefully, won’t be our last election).
Regardless, for a startlingly large number of Americans, Trump’s authoritarian tendencies are a feature not a bug.
