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Marilyn Goldfarb
Boalsburg
Today's autocratic leaders -- in places like Russia, North Korea and China -- don't share the same ideology or politics, but they DO share the same thirst for power.
Increasingly, the world's autocrats are working together! "Nowadays, autocracies are run not by one bad guy, but by sophisticated networks...and technological experts who provide surveillance, propaganda and disinformation," notes Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, Anne Applebaum, in her book, "Autocracy, Inc: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World."
According to Applebaum, propagandists in one authoritarian country share resources, troll farms and media networks that promote a dictator's propaganda with other countries. You can identify autocrats by their narcissistic tendencies. They regularly destroy the lives of ordinary people - and have a history of disregard for others, redirecting blame and perpetually lie.
"The members of these networks are connected not only to one another within a given autocracy but also to networks in other autocratic countries and sometimes in democracies too." That fact makes Donald Trump's alliance with Viktor Orban, Hungary's authoritarian leader, especially troubling. In his disastrous debate performance against Kamala Harris, Trump actually used Orban as a character witness!
Kevin Roberts, president of the Heritage Foundation, and architect of Project 2025, says his task is "Institutionalizing Trumpism." Many believe Heritage is actually modeling its vision of America on Hungary, which the EU no longer even considers a functioning democracy!
We saw Trump's affinity for authoritarians in his first presidency. Don't count on a second Trump presidency working in your favor; history shows it won't!