Sources of Power for Authoritarians

Authoritarians rely on three groups of people to give them power - the True Believers, the Disbelievers, and the Low-Information Voter.

The Low-Information Voter can be persuaded to vote for something that sounds good on the surface.

The Disbeliever refuses to accept that the authoritarian will act on their worst impulses. They assume that the tough talk is rhetoric to get votes. Surely, those things couldn’t happen; they’re too outrageous. And since the authoritarian promises to be good for business and the economy, why not give him a try?

The final group, the True Believers, want the authoritarian to take bold action. They want him to punish critics and expel undesirables. They believe that such action will be helpful to society and to their own fortunes.

What the True Believers fail to realize is that those powers can and will be used against them when the leader no longer finds them useful or sufficiently dedicated.

Leaders with unchecked power have a history of turning on even their most ardent supporters. Think of what happened to Yevgeny Prigozhin in Russia when Putin no longer needed him. Recall what happened to Mike Pence and Michael Cohen despite years of loyalty to Donald Trump. No one is safe from the retribution of an authoritarian leader.