With the 2024 U.S. presidential election fast approaching and Donald Trump leading Joe Biden in the polls, the media's hysteria is reaching astronomical levels.
The Economist Magazine recently named Trump as the biggest danger facing the world in 2024, while The New York Times and Washington Post breathlessly warn that he is running on a nakedly authoritarian platform.
Of course, authoritarianism, like so many other such terms these days has been rendered all but meaningless, as it now simply describes anything the political left opposes, or which threatens their power.
But as evidence, the media cites Trump's plans to mass deport illegal immigrants, reshape the federal bureaucracy, lock up violent criminals and deranged lunatics, and teach patriotism again in American schools.
Far from repelling voters, these policies appear to be resonating, with The Washington Post recently running the article: "A lot of Americans embrace Trump's authoritarianism."
The Washington Post cited polling showing that two in five respondents, including nearly half of Republicans, responded affirmatively to the question of whether, "things in the U.S. had gone so far off track that we need a leader who would break rules in order to fix the country's direction?"
This response is certainly understandable given the nation's current trajectory, as one need only look around to see how far off the rails things have gone.
In America today, antisemitism runs rife on the streets and universities; crime and deadly drugs pour over nonexistent borders killing thousands of Americans annually while mass immigration overwhelms major cities; the young are losing pride in their country entirely; and new foreign wars spring up almost daily, to name only a few of the numerous calamities.
In the light of this, far from the authoritarian dystopia portrayed by the media, many Americans see Trump's policies as simply a return to sanity, and a welcomed alternative to the current dismal reality.
Americans are also asking sensibly why they cannot have permanently what San Francsico did temporarily for Chinese leader Xi Jinping's recent visit — are they not deserving of clean, crime-free streets?
Furthermore, despite the media's characterization, what Trump is proposing is hardly out of line with past American leaders, including those enshrined upon Mount Rushmore.
The father of the nation himself, George Washington, would likely have handled today's mass illegal immigration much in the way that Trump is proposing with large scale deportations, as indeed did another great American general turned president, Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Nor is what Trump is proposing unlawful; to the contrary, much of what he seeks is merely the enforcement of existing laws, which the current administration refuses.
But given the growing direness of the situation, there is also a significant segment of Americans today that view more extraordinary measures as necessary and warranted to correct the madness destroying their great nation.
In that respect, there are those that do perhaps desire for Trump to become a dictator, though in the original Roman sense.
When Rome was gravely threatened, it would empower a single individual, a "dictator" to assume full powers to set things right again.
This emergency lever was pulled when the usual political mechanisms, much like today, proved inadequate.
It also came with an expiration date, a set term, after which the appointed dictator had to step down and relinquish his powers.
In a sense, that is precisely what Trump is offering Americans.
Four years to clean up America; four years without the restraints of running for reelection; four years of not being beholden to outside donors or special interests; four years to simply do what needs to be done to address the nation's problems.
After which like the ancient Roman Cincinnatus, Trump would retire into the sunset, and a long well-deserved rest at Mar-a-Lago with the blessing of a grateful nation.
It's an attractive offer to many and one given how closely America was patterned after Rome that is not without some precedent.
President Abraham Lincoln's suspension of habeas corpus during the Civil War and President Franklin Roosevelt's myriad emergency actions to support impoverished Americans during the Great Depression, being two familiar examples.
And though the media and the left will paint this as dangerous extremism, they themselves have proven perfectly willing to use the very authoritarian means that they ascribe to others when it suits their own purposes, a fact that the lawfare now being waged against Trump makes abundantly clear.
It is therefore not so much authoritarianism that they fear, but a rival brand.
To that end, what truly terrifies them is that Trump's polices, regardless of what they are called, will succeed and that as a result Americans will be far better off.
And that is what ultimately makes Trump such a threat.
Lee Steinhauer is a strategic policy and political consultant known for his book "The Art of The New Cold War: America vs. China. What America Must Do to Win." Lee is a frequent guest on Fox, Fox Business, Newsmax, and a published policy and opinion writer for numerous media publications. Read Lee Steinhauer's Reports — More Here.
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