By George Fallar 
It’s appropriate to discuss the MAGA characteristic of dictator worship on the day Tucker Carlson interviewed Vladimir Putin in Moscow.
The MAGA Mind fascination with strongman politics is obvious and potent.
Acceptance of Trump’s “dictator for a day” statement demonstrates MAGA readiness to accept that for the United States.
Carlson’s Dictator Worship
Why did Carlson score the Putin interview? Tucker claims major television networks and newspapers have refused to interview Putin since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Was he the only one to request an interview with Putin?
Mr. Carlson is wrong. We receive many requests for interviews with the president.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov – Daily briefing for reporters
Peskov admitted the Kremlin routinely stonewalled requests from Western media outlets. Following that admission he answered “he has a position which differs” (from other journalists) when asked why Carlson was selected.
How much different is Carlson’s position? Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Alsu Kurmasheva was arrested in October, 2023 facing charges for failing to self-register as a “foreign agent” and for violating Russia’s military censorship laws. The Wall Street Journal’s Evan Gershkovich was arrested in March, 2023 accused of espionage, the first American detained on that charge since the Cold War.
A reporter at the 2018 Helsinki summit asked then president Trump if he believed his own intelligence agencies or the Russian president when it came to the allegations of meddling in the elections. Trump answered, “President Putin says it’s not Russia. I don’t see any reason why it would be.”1
Trump, not just Carlson, pumps up defenestration master Putin as a solid citizen of the world. That Trump imprimatur of dictator worship mainlines Russia into the MAGA bloodstream.
Hungary’s Viktor Orbán
Carlson’s dictator worship is a canary in the MAGA movement coal mine. He’s at the sharp end of the grievance society and makes an ample living feeding the machine. Carlson hosted his Fox News show from Hungary for a week in 2021. The “Hungary vs. Soros: Fight for Civilization.” documentary of Carlson’s celebrated the near dictatorship in Hungary in 2022. MAGA anti-Semitic trigger name George Soros is included in the title of Tucker’s documentary since Soros is also a boogeyman in Hungary.
We must state that we do not want to be diverse and do not want to be mixed: we do not want our own color, traditions and national culture to be mixed with those of others. We do not want this. We do not want that at all. We do not want to be a diverse country.
Association of Cities with County Rights 2018 speech2
Orbán’s Politics
Orbán became Prime Minister in 2010 after running on an anti-immigration platform. Since then he has systematically dismantled the free press and rewritten the constitution in 2012. He gerrymandered districts to favor his own re-election. He enacted discriminatory legislation against the LGBTQ community, one of the factors in the view of Hungary as “strong on family values” in the MAGA world. He seized control of the universities3
Like Trump, Orbán is anti-Ukraine helping his MAGA hit status. He built a heavily guarded militarized wall on Hungary’s southern border. Orbán embraces the “Great Replacement Theory“, one of the prime directives of the MAGA movement. He manufactures many opportunities to gather power for himself.
If you separate Western civilization from its Judaeo-Christian heritage, the worst things in history happen.
Let’s be honest, the most evil things in modern history were carried out by people who hated Christianity. Don’t be afraid to call your enemies by their name. You can’t play safe but they will never show mercy.
Politics are not enough. This war is a culture war.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán – CPAC conference – Dallas, TX – August, 20224
Donald Trump endorsed Orbán for re-election in 2022 while his adviser Steve Bannon said of Orbán “He was Trump before Trump.” While Bannon has said the same about a bunch of other people, Orbán’s place in the MAGA lineup is solid.
Viktor Orbán has systematically dismantled a functioning democracy and has ensured it will be difficult to remove him from office. Hungary is not yet a dictatorship, but the path to that is clear and the American MAGA dictator worship has a spotlight on him.
Trump’s Dictator Worship
The leader of the Republican party and the MAGA movement famously praises anything or anyone he perceives as exhibiting strength.
Asian Strongmen Dictator Worship
When the students poured into Tiananmen Square, the Chinese government almost blew it. Then they were vicious, they were horrible, but they put it down with strength. That shows you the power of strength. Our country is right now perceived as weak…as being spit on by the rest of the world.
Donald Trump to Playboy – 19905
Hundreds of student protesters were killed in the event Trump celebrated.6 To “put it down with strength” is a positive regardless of the manifestation of that strength. The display of strength by China included declaring martial law, something Trump also proposed to put down George Floyd protests in Washington, D.C.
Trump said of his relationship with China’s autocrat Xi Jinping “We love each other!” and most remember the love notes back and forth with North Korea’s Ki, Jong Un. Both of those men run strongman autocracies with an iron fist. People disappear mysteriously and permanently in both countries as they do in Putin’s Russia.
I talked to him a lot. I got to know him very well. He was very smart. Very cunning, very streetwise. And we spoke a lot. Actually, we spoke a lot. And I think we had really, you know, a great relationship.7
Trump on Kim Jong Un
Mohammed bin Salman
The CIA concluded the murder of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi had been ordered by strongman Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. Despite that and the history of MBS for using violence to maintain power, Trump sided with the prince.
Just spoke with the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia who totally denied any knowledge of what took place in their Turkish Consulate. He was with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during the call, and told me that he has already started, and will rapidly expand, a full and complete investigation into this matter. Answers will be forthcoming shortly.
Donald Trump tweets – October 16, 2018
Trump invited notoriously sadistic Philippines strongman president Rodrigo Duterte to the White House, celebrating his “unbelievable job on the drug problem” wit over 12,000 dead Filipinos including police executions of at least 2,555 suspects.8
Other Authoritarian Strongmen
Trump praised another man on the track to total authoritarianism, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, for his strength. Turkey is, for the time being, a presidential democracy but Erdoğan has made moves to the right that could end that system of government in short order. An example of how Erdoğan manages his administration came in a visit to Trump in 2017 where his security people attacked protesters demonstrating9 outside the Turkish embassy.
Trump said Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi was doing fantastic work. Some of that work included killing over 800 protesters in a day at Rabaa.9
Anything or anyone Donald Trump endorses is immediately grafted into MAGA culture. and amplified until it’s assimilated. A quick spin through the social media platforms right now (February 9, 2024) will prove that. Look for mentions of Carlson’s chat with Putin, see how far the MAGA culture has swallowed Tucker’s messaging that one of the most ruthless dictators on the planet isn’t really a bad guy and Russia is misunderstood.
America Isn’t Immune to Dictatorship
More than 42 percent of recently polled Iowa caucusgoers were more likely to vote for Trump because of his assertion immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of the country. A further 29 percent said those comments didn’t matter. 42 percent of Republicans responding in a national poll identify themselves as “MAGA” conservatives.
Trump’s lifetime admiration for political strongmen with no accountability dovetail neatly with his ability to slip accountability for his actions. It’s a short leap to hear his “dictator for a day” rhetoric as assurance he very clearly wishes he could get away with the same heinous activities his idols have.
If Trump manages to win another election he would certainly attempt to execute plans which are already drafted. His goal is consolidate power in the executive branch while diminishing the effect of elections. Even if the man himself is incapable of blueprinting those plans, smart people have already done so and would be handed a White House office.
The Size of the MAGA Camp
The startling dismissal of the bipartisan Senate “border bill” demonstrates the power of Donald Trump over enough Republicans to kill a bill that party has been screaming about for years. They were handed much of their wish list and slapped it away because the de facto leader of their party demanded they do so.
That fact confirms 42 percent of Republican voters who admit MAGA leanings pales in comparison to the majority of elected Republicans who bend their knees to the leader of the MAGA movement.
Because of that, the peril of the United States sliding down the slope from a democratic Republic to something more like Turkey and then more like Hungary as chunks of the Constitution continue to erode. An analyst for U.S. Central Command studying insurgency estimated only 10 to 15 percent of the population needed to be supportive of an insurgency to get a situation like Iraq in 2005–2006.
The United States is there now if any insurgent factions gather enough steam to start the roll away from democracy.
It’s unclear whether even the most devout MAGA person really wants what they’re asking for, dictator worship may just be a symptom. Just ask the Republicans who, like the dog who caught the car it was chasing, threw their goal away.
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- Trump sides with Russia against FBI at Helsinki summit ↩︎
- Hungarian Prime Minister Shows Why American Right Embraces Him ↩︎
- Hungary’s Orban extends dominance through university reform ↩︎
- Why Trump and the GOP love Hungary’s authoritarian leader ↩︎
- THE PLAYBOY INTERVIEW WITH DONALD TRUMP ↩︎
- 1989 Tiananmen Square protests and massacre ↩︎
- Trump can’t help but show off his letters from Kim Jong Un in his new book ↩︎
- Philippines’ ‘War on Drugs’ ↩︎
- US Dismisses Charges Against 11 Erdogan Bodyguards Involved in Washington Brawl ↩︎
- Egypt’s dictator murdered 800 people today in 2013. He’s now a US ally and GOP folk hero. ↩︎