Competitive authoritarians can only get away with consolidating power under autocratic rule with massive popular backing. Putin, Modi, Bukele, Erdogan, and Orban had peak approval ratings of: 89%, 88%, 91%, 77%, and 57% respectively. Trump has nowhere near that. - ThreadSky

esqueer.net • 5 days ago

Competitive authoritarians can only get away with consolidating power under autocratic rule with massive popular backing. Putin, Modi, Bukele, Erdogan, and Orban had peak approval ratings of: 89%, 88%, 91%, 77%, and 57% respectively.

Trump has nowhere near that.

Reposted from McSpocky™

More and more people are waking up…

Comments

drewmelbourne.com•5 days ago

How long until Trump starts inventing his own polls?

techwitch.bsky.social•5 days ago

He’s already been doing that for some time, but the biased pollsters are easy to spot and disregard.

retinco.bsky.social•5 days ago

He's already said they were fake. He's posted that he has the highest rating of any president. He'll keep lying and his MAGA followers will eat it up.

azraeltengu.bsky.social•5 days ago

Indeed, and when the supply shock hits… #gotterdammerung

forevernever.bsky.social•5 days ago

Trump, notably, wasn't over 50% in most polls on January 20, with a large number of people in the "wait and see" undecided category.

forevernever.bsky.social•5 days ago

Ironically, if he had done almost nothing in his first 100 days and just let all of Biden's policies cruise along largely unchanged, Trump could be hitting 60% now.

saschavykos.bsky.social•5 days ago

I hope you're right, but but I don't think it matters much to them what we think.

Also, I don't know how they can determine approval rating when saying you don't approve can get you dead or in prison, and when elections and polls are faked, etc.

nikkis749.bsky.social•5 days ago

Oh it will, as soon as their Hard-chargin' gun-fuckin' constituency figures out they've 100% abandoned even pretending to be helping them out. They are unhinged and will lash out.

saschavykos.bsky.social•5 days ago

Hmmm I will believe that when I see it.

I think they'll mostly continue lashing out at easier targets.

nikkis749.bsky.social•5 days ago

It's happened before over much lower stakes. Remember the softball game?

saschavykos.bsky.social•5 days ago

Nooooo?

The only ball game i remember is the one on 1986 when my neighbor took a line drive to the dick and we all laughed like it was America's Funniest Home Videos until he didn't get back up and I still feel terrible that.

nikkis749.bsky.social•5 days ago

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Congressional_baseball_shooting
Wasn't a MAGA guy I guess, but still. They have been targeted before.

andrewmichael.bsky.social•5 days ago

Turkey deserves better than Erdogan.

deanbooth.bsky.social•5 days ago

I’d like them to poll: Do you cringe whenever you see Trump’s face? I sure do.

honkydgoofy.bsky.social•5 days ago

And we have A LOT of guns. Not a good recipe.

marronvulpes.bsky.social•5 days ago

He lived like a loser and he will die as one, (hopefully soon.)

esqueer.net•5 days ago

While Maduro in Venezuela has never been widely popular and often had dismal approval ratings, the consolidation of power occurred under Chavez who had peak approval ratings of 85%. So in that sense, unpopular Autocrats can persist once power has been consolidated and institutional checks removed.

esqueer.net•5 days ago

While US institutions are severely degraded, they're not completely gone. We're in a very precarious moment but Trump does not have the popular mandate to consolidate power in an autocratic attempt. This means even more instability as an anocracy with greater likelihood of political violence.

gordonvincent.bsky.social•5 days ago

I'm curious about "anocracy." Is it meant to be similar to anomie/anarchy? Or is it a hybrid word for "rule by an asshole"?

chitownhustler.bsky.social•5 days ago

Its unclear that negative public opinion affects him. He's a golem created and maintained by Repugs. We must do all possible to shift one or both houses; its the only way to mitigate his vile and unlawful behavior.

maartenmaesen.bsky.social•5 days ago

The high approval rates of dictators only come after years of the people being numbed into submission by propaganda and misinformation. Most of them simply don't know a better life.

Think this is very different from the USA.

winterayars.bsky.social•5 days ago

They've been slowly, over decades, degrading the institutions and the Democrats have done nothing to reverse that. (See: Ratchet effect.) They don't have to be popular to enact their policies, they've just gamed the system for decades and the opposition party... hasn't opposed it.

jamesjoelrussell.bsky.social•5 days ago

This is very hopeful. I'm concerned what happens if the "opposition" flops to the point he can eacalate.
It's not gonna be helped if quislings and tail tuckers like Cuomo take over big blue areas to then do Trump's autocratic bidding

trakhorse.bsky.social•5 days ago

I did a lot of legal work involving disputes with Venezuela. When Chavez died, we thought things would improve because Maduro was unpopular, even with some Chavistas. Chavez was a cult leader, Maduro not. But the damage to the institutions and rule of law was done.

the-wrong-way-kid.bsky.social•5 days ago

Id also add that when a dictator is not popular enough he must have a formidable paramilitary willing to operate against civilians, or significant capture if the military to do the same or both. And well *gestures at hegseth* wouldnt put a lot of faith DJT can pull that off.

boneyardofnames.bsky.social•5 days ago

doesn't have and never had. both times elected by slim margins

drbutchermd.bsky.social•5 days ago

As I have said over and over again, even some dumb asses who voted for this asshole have their limitations once the reality of what this looks like in action begins to hit them.

drbutchermd.bsky.social•5 days ago

DOGE was probably the tipping point, but it's the kidnappings and El Salvador that put this over the edge.

madcowmunity.bsky.social•5 days ago

Look, elections are over unless we forceably remove fascism. His approval ratings don't matter if we can't vote him out of office.

wflams.bsky.social•5 days ago

That's not how society historically has worked

wflams.bsky.social•5 days ago

Go look at fascist Italy

nuclearbanana.bsky.social•5 days ago

would you kindly remind the class about what happened almost this very day, on the 29th of April 1945?

madcowmunity.bsky.social•5 days ago

They didn't vote Mussolini out of office. They forceably removed him and hung him in the square.

socialistgardener.bsky.social•5 days ago

wait until store shelves begin to empty out at the end of May and markets begin to price in the devastation. shit is about to get so much more real for every single american. his numbers may get into the single digits by the end of the summer

judithkh1951.bsky.social•5 days ago

His approval rating should be like whale shit--at the bottom of the ocean.

evilfred.bsky.social•5 days ago

not sure that we can really trust any Russian surveys lol

iputadollarin.bsky.social•5 days ago

Trump betting USA will buy autocracy like El Salvador
But we're not uneducated people who have spent years accustomed to despots centralizing power by offering a corrupt exchange of liberty for security

We're better than this

writeon1.bsky.social•5 days ago

The only good thing about Trumponomics is that the disastrous effects will be felt in plenty of time for the 2026 elections. I hope Republicans in the House and those up for reelection in the Senate will read the handwriting on the wall.

lov4all.bsky.social•5 days ago

Trump will be in the 20s by summer.

leahleahbobeah.bsky.social•5 days ago

@democrats.org @democrats-judiciary.house.gov
@chrismurphyct.bsky.social
@aoc.bsky.social @repjasmine.bsky.social
@booker.senate.gov
@algreen.house.gov

#FiftyFiftyOne
#14thNOW
#25thNOW
#Impeach47
#ArrestMusk
#VerifyTheVote
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#WTAF ‼️💥

https://impeachtrumpagain.org

aikiwolfie.bsky.social•5 days ago

That's why he's removing as many voters from the voters role as he can. It's why they insist on voter ID. The Conservatives in the UK tried the same thing. It backfired on them by removing their core voter base. The elderly. Hopefully it will backfire on Trump.

black-rainbow.bsky.social•4 days ago

Our one saving grace is Trump's general incompetence backed up by the incompetence of the cadre of yes-men surrounding him.

Hegseth is many things and foolish is chief among them. I've no doubt the military brass around him thinks he is cartoonishly stupid.

xbram.bsky.social•5 days ago

Hitler was much more popular than Donald too, had a 90% approval rating before the war. People compare these two narcissists often but Hitler was liked for some serious economic recovery in a major crisis instead of tanking a solid economy by his incompetence.

skinnyraf.bsky.social•5 days ago

But this high approval rate was already after he consolidated power. His performance in free elections was mediocre.

xbram.bsky.social•5 days ago

True.

xfrphil.bsky.social•5 days ago

Very heartening numbers - thanks for that.

gopjesus.bsky.social•5 days ago

What? https://bsky.app/profile/gopjesus.bsky.social/post/3lnre3ajjzs23

peranoia.bsky.social•5 days ago

What exactly is the mechanism that needs an approval rating to consolidate an authoritarian rule? I don't see it. They just need to win and close ranks, which usually means at least one term. The first term to figure out who to purge in their own ranks. The second term to break the guardrails.

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