"... The impulse to sound alarms — to break voters out of their 'it can’t happen here' doldrums — is understandable. But it’s also possible to take this too far, and here it’s worth registering an irony: Ruth Ben-Ghiat, a scholar of strongman rule, has noted that a time-tested tactic of authoritarian leaders is to disarm the electorate by suggesting their glorious triumph is inevitable.
“'Authoritarians create a climate where they seem unstoppable,' Ben-Ghiat told me. 'Creating an aura of destiny around the leader galvanizes his supporters by making his movement seem much stronger than it actually is. The manipulation of perception is everything.'
"The aim is to hypnotize voters into forgetting the power and numbers that they possess, persuading them that politics is a hopelessly sordid and disappointing exercise. But that is not the story of the Trump years..." (our emphasis) -- Greg Sargent, Washington Post, advising us to adopt "a spirit of guarded and vigilant confidence" in taking on the Malignant Loser and his cult followers. He notes that "Undue fatalism could even prove counterproductive, de-energizing voter opposition exactly when Trump is brazenly projecting his dictatorial intentions." It also plays into his ugly narrative that the only way he loses elections is through cheating by Democrats. We have just under a year to go. Let's make the most of it, shall we?!
