While he has some of the same ability to tap into the public’s fear and anger, Trump isn’t really an authoritarian like Hitler or Franco; his business model is the Trump Organization, not the Third Reich. He is driven by a pathetic, childish desire for attention and the fear of being called a loser, not the will to power and fascist ideology. His man on golf cart tendencies really only come into play when he is faced with an existential attack on his identity as a winner. Hence, the hysteria of the last few weeks.
But beware, America! Trump has shown us that the Orban Option is a real possibility here. We now know, if we didn’t already, that a large segment of the GOP electorate is ready to follow a real man on horseback through thick and thin, and that the system doesn’t do enough to rein him in. Impeachment is a broken reed, and the judicial system is slow and unreliable. Danger lies ahead.
I expect an open, committed authoritarian to be on the ballot in 2024, certainly during the GOP primaries, and very possibly during the general election. We will have to hope at that time that Trump’s failures have discredited the authoritarian experiment to the point that it has no electoral future in this country. Have they? I doubt it; he still has over 40 percent of the vote.