This might help explain the relationship between ordinary folks and corrupt authoritarian leaders.

Persecution of "the leader" is viewed as persecuting them, or illegality and corruption are tolerable as long as "the leader" acts on their behalf -- as was the case with Assad Snr and Saddam.

https://www.salon.com/2023/04/17/connecting-clarence-thomas-and-donald-trump-tied-together-by-a-mutual-worship-of-corrupt-power/

How have Trump and his allies and followers responded to his being held accountable under the law for his obvious crimes? Quite predictably: With threats of violence and civil unrest, lies, and false claims that Trump is some type of innocent "victim." Even more absurdly, Trump's cultists are even claiming that he is some type of divinely commanded Jesus Christ-like figure who is being "martyred" and "persecuted" by the Democrats and "the deep state."

Through their broken reasoning the Great Leader and his or her followers are, by definition, above and outside of the law. For Donald Trump the private citizen to be treated the same way as other Americans – even though he has been granted far more latitude of action and freedom from consequences – is deemed unacceptable for the Republican fascists and those who share their beliefs about and commitment to corrupt right-wing power.


The American people know from experience that there is a double standard where the rich and the powerful are routinely able to violate the law without serious consequences while everyday people enjoy no such privileges. The result is a legitimacy crisis for American democracy, its social institutions, and elites including the news media and the courts. One of the few American institutions to consistently be held in high regard by the American people is the military. That is a mark of a failing democracy that could potentially succumb to military rule.


In a profile at the New Statesman, political scientist Brian Klaas explained this great challenge in the following way:

Our modern society has made it extremely unattractive to normal, decent human beings to end up in positions of power…. I don't think I'm alone in that. I think there's lots of people who think: I could make the world a little better, but the cost might be enormous to me.

I conducted 500 interviews with some of the worst people around – and they weren't normal….There are quirks about them, there's something wrong with some of them, but they're all very, very good at getting into power. And that's not an accident. There are ways you can counteract that tendency or amplify it, and I think we're unfortunately amplifying it quite a lot."

Power is a relational thing, you can't be a leader if you don't have followers. So as much as we complain about the leaders we have, we have to acknowledge, at least in a democratic society, that we put them there.

That's not about the bad people, that's not about systems. That's about us.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/18/2023 01:24PM by anybody.

Sigh.
Humans are pathetic.