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Trump's 'stable genius' reality check: America, this isn't a drill

Brian Klaas
Opinion contributor
President Trump

Remember when you didn’t have to constantly care about politics?

For decades, that was one of the longstanding privileges of living in a Western democracy. Sure, being politically engaged has always been the duty of every citizen, but it used to be the case that you wouldn’t miss 100 crazy stories if you tuned out for a few days.

That is … until Donald Trump, self-proclaimed "very stable genius."

It is now impossible for anyone in the United States — or indeed the world — to go 24 hours without hearing Trump’s name. And while that may be music to Trump’s narcissistic ears, it’s also chillingly familiar to people like me who study authoritarian regimes in the rest of the world. The constant barrage, the reminders that nothing is normal, is a strategy of control elsewhere — one that won’t allow people to ever forget who is in charge.

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In Mao’s China, citizens were effectively required to carry around his Little Red Book. In North Korea, there are an estimated 34,000 statues of the Kim dynasty dotting the landscape — about one every 2 miles. And in most of the authoritarian countries I’ve lived in, the capital city is draped with images of the leader — with pressure from the government to display his photo in offices and even homes.

The United States is nothing like those countries, and it’s alarmist hyperbole to suggest otherwise. America is still a constitutional republic — a form of democracy.

Even so, there are two parallels between Trump’s cult of personality and personality cults carefully cultivated under authoritarianism: 

►First, Trump — like most despots — has an unquenchable thirst for attention. He craves the spotlight and has a darkly ingenious ability to force it onto himself. 

►Second, we are all facing a similarly overwhelming and endless bombardment of Trump piped into our lives through uninterrupted television coverage, a long string of often unhinged tweets (more than 2,500 since he became president) and the commentary that follows (like this column).

It’s exhausting.

Then, of course, the authoritarian nature of his presidency is jarring too. Constant lies. Demonizing the press and trying to stop publication of a critical book. Scapegoating minorities. Surrounding himself with generals and family members. Appointing unqualified cronies. Ethics violations. Pardoning political allies while calling to jail his opponents. And attacking those who are investigating him for potential criminal behavior. It hasn’t even been a year yet. There could be three or seven more to come.

How do people in the rest of the world cope? What are the most effective tactics for dealing with living under a wannabe despot who demands our attention like a petulant child?

►First, don’t tune out. Creeping authoritarianism requires a disinterested citizenry who gives in to exhaustion and ignores the changes happening around them. Authoritarian and wannabe authoritarian leaders count on destroying democracy with a thousand cuts, hoping that each one will go unnoticed.

►Second, don’t accept "new normals." Normalization is fertilizer to despotism. Getting used to unacceptable behavior causes it to take root. Sadly, it’s already happening. The first time you heard Trump call a critical media report FAKE NEWS? Shocking. Now we shrug. The first travel ban sparked mass spontaneous protests. The second travel ban sparked tweets. Seven years of that trend would make American democracy unrecognizable. We can’t let it happen.

►Third, don’t let Trump divide us. His divide-and-rule tactics are a common hallmark of authoritarian regimes. In Belarus, for example, I saw how Alexander Lukashenko, the "last dictator in Europe," aggressively drives wedges to splinter the opposition — ensuring that they fight each other rather than him. It works.

Time and time again, I have watched firsthand as unpopular authoritarian leaders cling to power by dividing their opponents.

These are not normal political times in America. We can no longer afford the luxury of being political purists rather than pragmatists. Political puritanism is something we can usually afford because the choice is often between two equally stable, responsible forces who embody democratic values and do not govern by chaos.

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That’s in the past. The democratic system itself is now under threat from an unhinged individual who has erratic authoritarian impulses, peddles debunked conspiracy theories, and threatens nuclear war by tweet.

The overwhelming majority of Americans disapprove of that behavior and do not support Trump. But if Americans stand divided against Trump, he will unite his base and win. If Democrats and principled Republicans who oppose Trumpism sit on the sidelines rather than going all in for less-than-perfect candidates, he will win. Americans must unite to oppose Trump’s agenda in the 2018 midterms and oust him from office by 2020.

Trump is following an impulsive and dangerous authoritarian playbook. Most countries — from Turkey to Russia to the Philippines — don’t manage to block wannabe despots from becoming despots. But the United States is not like most countries. We have the power to stop Trump and Trumpism in its tracks. To do so, we need to follow the playbook that successful opposition movements do: Pay attention, don’t accept authoritarian abuses as normal, and find common ground with people who disagree on tax or health care policy but agree about protecting democratic norms or having responsible, qualified leaders in charge.

This is not a drill. Don’t treat it like one.

Brian Klaas, a fellow in comparative politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science, is author of The Despot’s Apprentice: Donald Trump’s Attack on Democracy. Follow him on Twitter: @brianklaas.