The Lure of Authoritarianism
By Ed Meek
--And you may ask yourself, how did I get here?
You may wonder now and then during this reign of Trump how
we got here, who these Trump fans are and why they support our dear leader no
matter what. Anne Applebaum has some great insights in answer to these
questions in her new book Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of
Authoritarianism. Applebaum is a Pulitzer prize-winning historian who has
written extensively about Russia and the collapse of the Soviet Union for The
Economist, The Spectator, the Washington Post and The Atlantic.
She has also witnessed first-hand the transformation of Poland and Hungary and
writes with authority about England’s embrace of Brexit and our current
situation in the United States.
You may have had the crazy notion that someone who was
caught having unprotected sex with a porn star and paying her off before the
election, who bragged about grabbing women between the legs, who made fun of
disabilities and called war heroes cowards, someone who obstructed justice and
encouraged white supremacists, who committed fraud and avoided taxes, who
claimed he knew more than his generals, the FBI, scientists and doctors might
finally have reached the limit of what people will put up with when he failed
to assume a leadership role in response to a pandemic that has resulted in
somewhere between
150,00 and 200,00 deaths of Americans. But Noooooooo!
Applebaum tells us that we should keep in mind that
historically, open societies do not last long. Humans apparently prefer unity.
Jonathan Haidt confirms this idea in
The Righteous Mind. Haidt found that most people in the world are
conservative and have a tendency to respect authority. Applebaum tells us that
“Authoritarianism is an attitude, an unwillingness to deal with complexity and
pluralism. Ideology doesn’t matter.” This explains why some 42% of Americans
stick with Trump no matter what he says or does. He may contradict himself over
and over, one day claiming the coronavirus is a hoax, the next claiming he
never said that. It’s all good in Trump land.
Applebaum reminds us that we are part of a trend occurring
in a number of countries. She talks about the rise of the one-party state, originating
with Lenin. She has witnessed it in Poland, in Hungary, in Russia, and we’re
heading in that direction in the United States with the Executive Branch, the
Supreme Court, the Senate and most of the states under Republican control. Both
the far left and the (far) right prefer a one-party state. In such an
organization, enthusiasts advance “full of passionate intensity” as Yeats said.
And Applebaum adds “Loyalty is demanded.” She points out that “meritocracy and
competition do not create community.” And people prefer community.
Liberals like Elizabeth Warren promote creating a
level-playing field with equal opportunities for everyone but what has happened
in the United States is that the only people who really get ahead in the
meritocracy are the elites. The system is rigged, Warren and Bernie say, and if
that’s the case, then why support such a system? So say Trump supporters. When
Trump plays the populist promising to “fix it,” his audience applauds that
idea. At the same time, appealing to pro patria, Trump calls his
supporters the real Americans, the true patriots. This notion is reinforced by
Fox News and Rush Limbaugh and friends. Patriotism is connected by Trump to
support for the military (the most trusted
public institution in the US), and the police who are maintaining law and order
and so, creating the safe environment the right longs for. That role is
important because in Trump world, the country is overridden by crime and chaos,
looting and violence. This view is confirmed by the nightly news and by popular
television shows like CSI. The perpetrators of these crimes in the world
according to Trump are nearly always minorities and immigrants.
At the same time, Applebaum tells us, in many countries,
including the United States and England, there is a longing for the good old
days. She calls the people obsessed with the past nostalgics. Trump
supporters want to restore the past and make America great again. In this lost
world, people with high school degrees had good union jobs, and there was a
strong sense of community. People bowled together. For Trump minions, loyalty
pays off. And there is a big payoff for people like Mitch McConnell and his
wife, Sean Hannity, Laura Ingraham, Tucker Carlson, etc. They get rich and gain
power.
Trump and other authoritarians promise a return to the glorious
past. Trump is able to form a coalition of supporters from the religious, who
lament the secularization of the country, to the racists and xenophobes, who
fear diversity, to all those Americans who have been left behind by free trade,
high tech, and the meritocracy. Trump (and all authoritarians) divide the
country by emphasizing differences, attacking the press, and undermining facts
and science. This approach has had disastrous even deadly consequences during
the pandemic.
Where are we headed? Perhaps the pandemic will bring us
together, progressive democrats will triumph in the coming elections and Biden
will reunite the country. Or, we could fall prey to “the seductive lure of
authoritarianism.”