Ezra Klein

that's filled with people who like him.

He throws himself parades.

He's adopted the cliched authoritarian habit of forcing people to sit through these record-length speeches.

And yes, it is an amazing show of dominance to make Speaker Mike Johnson nod and clap and grin for that long.

But the question here is, what if Trump believes all of it?

What if he believes everybody in that room, or at least Republicans, like nodding and grinning and clapping for that long?

What if he believes what is being said at his cabinet meetings?

Because authoritarians always face the same problem.

Everyone is afraid to tell them the bad news.

The people around them compete for their favor by flattering them and telling them good news, whether or not it's true.

What usually saves authoritarians is their control over the system, their power, their ability to repress elections, opposition parties, the media.

If you have enough power, you can bend politics to fit your reality.

But Trump isn't an authoritarian, not yet.

Not that kind.

He's a wannabe authoritarian who doesn't have the power to engage in that kind of systematic repression.

He just lost a major tariff case at the Supreme Court.

Jimmy Kimmel is still on the air.

Americans are thankfully unafraid to criticize their president.

And Republicans are losing elections left and right.

And in that world...