(2023-02-19) The Rise Of American Authoritarianism

The Rise of American Authoritarianism. Authoritarian inclinations and support for Donald Trump are strongly correlated by researchers. Authoritarianism seems to be the single attribute that best predicts support for Trump and Trump “wannabees.”

Matthew C. MacWilliams, founder of a political communications firm and author of On Fascism: 12 Lessons from American History, published an extensive examination of authoritarianism in America, and conducted four national panel surveys before the 2016 Presidential election. He found that “approximately 18 percent of Americans are highly disposed to authoritarianism, according to their answers to four simple survey questions used by social scientists to estimate this disposition. A further 23 percent or so are just one step below them on the authoritarian scale. This roughly 40 percent of Americans tend to favor authority, obedience and uniformity over freedom, independence and diversity.”

According to a CBS News exit survey conducted in South Carolina, 75% of Republican voters favoured barring Muslims from entering the country. According to YouGov and Public Policy Polling, one-third of Trump supporters want to expel gays and lesbians from the nation. Twenty percent of people thought Lincoln was wrong to release the slaves.

More than a third of respondents (34 percent, including 12 percent who said they “absolutely” agree) agreed when told that “We might have to make America a bit less democratic to defend and preserve the most fundamental American ideals, traditions, and beliefs.”

Twenty-one percent of those polled believe democracy is “so perverted” that “a new revolution is required to restore order.” The Constitution “gets in the way of things too much nowadays and should merely be ignored when it interferes with taking action on some matters,” according to nearly as many (18%).

A third of the respondents (33%) say they think the former president’s victory in the 2020 election was “taken” from him.

Authoritarianism is a political system characterized by the rejection of political plurality, the use of strong central power to preserve the political status quo, reductions in the rule of law, separation of powers, and democratic voting.

In a 2019 study, Spin Dictators: The Changing Face of Tyranny in the 21st Century, Sergei Guriev and Daniel Treisman found that authoritarian regimes have gradually reduced their reliance on violence and widespread repression. Instead, the study demonstrates that authoritarians are increasingly using information manipulation to maintain control.

Theodor Adorno, Else Frenkel-Brunswik, Daniel Levinson, and Nevitt Sanford were sociologists conducting research at the University of California, Berkeley during and soon after World War II. They wrote The Authoritarian Personality in 1950.

Here are some characteristics of the authoritarian personality and character:

• Submissiveness
• Dominance
• Aggression
• Conventionalism
• Dogmatism
• Ignorance

Using a Likert scale answer, the RWA scale quantifies right-wing authoritarianism. The questionnaire has 22 assertions

In a 2009 book, Authoritarianism and Polarization in Politics, Marc J. Hetherington and Jonathan D. Weiler identified evangelical Christians as the most authoritarian of voting blocs in the United States.

Furthermore, the former Confederate states (ie “the South”) showed higher levels of authoritarianism than the rest. Rural populations tend to be more authoritarian than urban ones.

Authoritarianism and the Decline of Democracy

On how close we are to go over the line, experts vary. Republicans, according to Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, might severely weaken the democratic system as early as 2024 by employing a combination of illegal congressional action and state-level meddling with vote tallies to prevent a Democratic triumph.

Four criteria are laid out by Levitsky and Ziblatt to determine whether a leader is authoritarian: they must reject democratic institutions, deny the legitimacy of political opponents, tolerate or even encourage violence, and restrict civil rights. No major-party presidential candidate throughout the past century, they write, “met even one of these four criteria, except Richard Nixon.” All of them were met by Donald Trump.

Donald Trump the Authoritarian Autocrat

Levitsky told Newsweek that Trump was “clearly identified as someone who is not devoted to the democratic principles of the game.” “Our democratic institutions’ health is a significant matter for concern.” Levitsky identified four indicators of an autocrat:

• Ignoring or displaying a lack of devotion to democratic principles.
• Ignoring political opponents’ validity.
• Supporting or tolerating violent behaviour.
• A willingness to restrict or impede the rights of opponents, including the media.

According to Levitsky, “they are things that democratic politicians in the United States just do not engage in.”

it is no longer so evident that the American constitution could easily thwart Donald Trump’s dictatorial tendencies, especially when the Republican party is committed to carrying out Trump’s wishes.

As they work to consolidate their power, they nearly always target the three fundamental institutions that can hold them accountable: independent courts, a free press, and civil society organizations.

Toxic Masculinity and Authoritarianism

Toxic Masculinity in Far-Right Extremist Groups

Authoritarianism and Autocracies

The Character Miscalculation of Hitler and Trump

From an Authoritarian State to a Fascist State: A Slippery Slope

Authoritarian Fascism

The Militarization of the Authoritarian State

Final Thoughts