Historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat‘s Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present (2020) contains helpful information about the psychology of authoritarianism. Included in her book is demagogue Donald J. Trump, among many others of his ilk. Below are selected quotes from her book; additional quotes provided are from Rachel Maddow, Barbara McQuade, and Steven Levitsky/Daniel Ziblatt.
First, what is authoritarianism? From a Ben-Ghiat post: “Authoritariansm is about converting rule of law into rule by the lawless. It is about taking away the rights of the many, including the right to free and fair elections and trials, and giving the few new liberties to steal, lie, and plunder womens’ bodies, the workforce, the economy, and the environment and not be held accountable.”
The following statements, directly from Strongmen, are pertinent to the psychology of authoritarianism:
The special psychological climate that strongmen create among their people—the thrill of transgression mixed with the comfort of submitting to his power—endows life with energy, purpose, and drama.
From the start, authoritarians stand out from other kinds of politicians by appealing to negative experiences and emotions. They don the cloak of national victimhood, reliving the humiliations of their people by foreign powers as they proclaim themselves their nation’s saviors. Picking up on powerful resentments, hopes, and fears, they present themselves as the vehicle for obtaining what is most wanted, whether it is territory, safety from racial others, securing male authority, or payback for exploitation by internal or external enemies.
It is [fear] that makes people so willing to follow brash, strong-looking demagogues . . . capable of cleansing the world of the vague, the weak, the uncertain, the evil. Ah, to give oneself over to their direction—what calm, what relief.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction (i.e., the reality of experience) and the distinction between true and false (i.e., the standards of thought) no longer exist.
Once the ruler is in power, elites strike an “authoritarian bargain” that promises them power and security in return for loyalty to the ruler and toleration of his suspension of rights. Some are true believers, and others fear the consequences of subtracting their support, but those who sign on tend to stick with the leader through gross mismanagement, impeachment, or international humiliation.
Other authors of recent books also address the psychology of authoritarianism and fascism:
From attorney Barbara McQuade, Attack from Within: How Disinformation Is Sabotaging America (2024):
Tactics in the authoritarian playbook include appealing to emotion over reason, exploiting divisions, undermining critics, dismantling public institutions, stoking violence, and creating an image of the Great Leader as both an everyman and a superman. Disinformation is the catalyst that allows these tactics to work.
Political commentator Rachel Maddow, Prequel: An American Fight Against Fascism (2023):
One big appeal of fascism, if nothing else, was its unapologetic embrace of cruelty. Cruelty towards others, coupled with hypersensitivity towards any slight to oneself.
Professors Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, How Democracies Die: What History Reveals About Our Future (2018):
The drift into authoritarianism doesn’t always set off alarm bells. Citizens are often slow to realize that their democracy is being dismantled even as it happens before their eyes.
