Would Republicans welcome a Democratic authoritarian?

It seems Republicans have two views of executive power, depending on which party holds the White House

A donkey.
(Image credit: Illustrated | iStock)

If there's one thing that political analysts of the center-left and center-right agree on, it's that President Trump aspires to govern as an authoritarian.

Even those who partially break from the consensus, like The New York Times' Ross Douthat, concede that Trump has "authoritarian instincts" that he nonetheless fails to act on in a consistent or effective way. In my own partial dissent from the prevailing view, I have described a presidency marked by weak governance paired with great strength in manipulating a segment of right-wing public opinion. Rather than becoming an authoritarian in the present, I've claimed, Trump is laying the groundwork for an autocratic presidency of the future — and he's being aided in this project by members of his party (like Attorney General William Barr) who have begun to advocate for a president unbound by various forms of oversight by Congress and investigation by law enforcement.

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Damon Linker

Damon Linker is a senior correspondent at TheWeek.com. He is also a former contributing editor at The New Republic and the author of The Theocons and The Religious Test.