The news media has not done a great job of showing the American people what has been occurring in the rest of the world’s leaderships. The pandemic has not only absorbed our media but also most other countries.

We have watched President Recep Endogen change Turkey from an army protected secular government to one tilting heavily towards a Muslim one. He fired the secular generals and put loyalists in control. He changed the constitution to allow him greater power and a longer term in office. He has picked the Kurds as his bogeyman (see 1930’s Germany and Jews) to focus his supporters against a common enemy. Disagree and you are fired and/or imprisoned.

Hungary’s Prime Minister Viktor Orbán was an early protester against totalitarian government, but after coming into power ten years ago, he has ramped up his power. His first bogeyman was the Syrian refugees. The pandemic has allowed him to increase his authoritarian rule by taking almost open-ended control of all government functions. The European Union has tried to slow his growth but Poland’s President Andrzej Duda and Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki have his back. Both are able to protect each other since EU Rules require consensus.

Nationalism breeds dictators. Brazil and Philippines are just two of a growing number of countries being led by want-to-be dictators. All have either taken over the opposing media like Russia or denigrated it like Trump. A dictator requires one friendly media outlet to disseminate their propaganda. Fox news is the outlet for people who want to control America. Trump’s use of the Defense Production Act (part of the War Powers Act) is similar to what other dictators have used.