What does a narcissistic, power hungry, greedy man do when he is leader of a supposedly democratic nation? You first eliminate any news media that may inform the citizenry of what is happening which would paint you in an unflattering way. Since the media can’t report happenings you would rid the country’s elective bodies of anyone who disagrees with you either by pressure or by jail or by death. You eliminate most of the votes that were against you and your friends. Since you control everything businesses can only operate with your approval, you are given a piece of the profits.

            Since the National leader has all the power, the Constitution can be changed to eliminate the pesky parts that limit the term of office. As long as you are in office you don’t have to worry about being arrested for crimes before and while in office.

            Two men who are successful at all the above are Xi of China and Putin of Russia. Putin is probably the richest man in the world. His secret yacht is valued at over a half billion dollars. Others who have started their path to dictator are Erdogan of Turkey, Orban of Hungary, Lukashenka of Belarus, and Modi of India. All are probably going to die in power to avoid what could happen if they were out of power. Netanyahu of Israel is hoping to stay in power by continuing the war with Hamas.

            All of these people have a common denominator, Donald Trump! He recently was quoted as saying he would squelch the press, jail those who were against him, and change parts of the constitution limiting his authority and terms. Trump has said many times how much he admires all of those authoritarians. Why can’t Americans really hear what he means? The people in the above countries didn’t listen either.