Faithful Followers of the Autocratic Playbook

Autocrats try to shut down responsible journalism. They tolerate adulation, complicity, and passivity, and nothing else. Elements of the media other than their sycophantic supporters are “enemies of the people.” They substitute their self-aggrandizing fabrications for facts. They become fountains of lies, which they repeat, reiterate, repeat, and say again. People begin to think that what they’ve heard so much must be true.

As an aspiring autocrat, Trump faithfully employs this tactic. So do his followers. For example, Lauren Boebert, a self-avowed Trump supporter who is the Republican candidate for Congress in Colorado 3rd Congressional District, continually runs a campaign ad that says nothing about her policy proposals or important issues at stake, but keeps repeating the false accusation that her Democratic opponent, Diane Mitsch Bush, is “a Lying Socialist who will force Americans to have socialized medicine.” Anyone who has examined Mitsch Bush’s record and policy positions, knows this isn’t true. Boebert, like Trump, hopes that she will prevail by continually and repeating false accusations.