Let’s talk about the accommodators of autocracy. Why? Because history teaches us that, though enablers see themselves as protecting the American Way, future Americans will remember them as having failed our generation’s greatest test.
The history I allude to is that of populist movements that slid from some form of illiberal democracy into autocracy. In my lifetime, we’ve witnessed that more than 40 times.
In my earlier video on the battle for America’s soul, I described how some of us become Ambassadors for a Putinist franchise, embracing and advancing the conspiracy of lies that fuels the Strong Man’s rise. But there’s another group that are not Ambassadors but nonetheless enable the Strong Man’s destruction of democracy. I call them Accommodators.
Whether that slide began from Left- or Right-Wing populisms, there have always been influential people who thought they could control a charismatic populist leader with a kleptocratic agenda, who thought they could safeguard their prosperity - and that of their grandchildren - by aligning with and empowering a Strong Man against those who recognized him.
In every autocratic attempt, Accommodators tend to recognize the character defects of the charismatic leader but mistakenly think they can contain him. Almost always, their country experiences some real or manufactured catastrophe, and they conclude Strong Man tactics might right the ship of state and benefit them.
So, Accommodators generally are well-meaning but make a grave mistake. They think what’s needed in the crisis is a set of policies. They don’t recognize that the essential non-negotiable ingredient in a crisis of state is the leader’s character.
We remember George Washington not because of his policies but because of his character. We remember Abe Lincoln not because of his politics but because of his character. We remember Teddy and Franklin Roosevelt because of their character - how they called us to be our best, most courageous selves - more than for their policies.
In the history of lost democracies, the grave error of Accommodators was that they failed to recognize that the essential test for a president is character, not policy. Because once they elected a Strong Man with defective character, they soon discovered it would be the last meaningful election of their lifetimes.
We see this in 1930s Germany and late 20th century Russia just before both became totalitarian states. But scholars name many examples of those who enabled autocrats since WWII: China, Iran, North Korea, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Angola, Myanmar, Cuba, Syria, Zimbabwe, Mali, Belarus, Sudan, and more than 30 others.
In every case, the Accommodators thought policy mattered more than character, but they ultimately discovered the charismatic leader moved swiftly to replace the people’s sovereignty with kleptocracy, to eliminate transparency and accountability, as well as anyone who got in their way. And, soon after, the personal wealth the Accommodators thought they were protecting was stolen by the autocrat’s political machine.
But it was too late: they’d lost their power to resist.
So, what does history teach us about autocratic attempts? First, that character matters more than policy promises. The people can correct bad policy but not bad character once we’ve enabled a wannabe Strong Man. Second, that the Accommodators of autocracy are usually elites themselves- especially business leaders and wealthy professionals- who think they can contain the damage done by the Strong Men they enable. History shows they usually can’t, and that, ultimately, they themselves end up plundered by the Strong Man. The Strong Man must be contained before and not after being entrusted with power.
In a future video we will talk about why autocracy’s Accommodators are blind to what’s at stake and usually aren’t able to see until it’s too late.
Godspeed!
Applebaum, Anne. 2024. Autocracy, Inc.: The Dictators Who Want to Run the World. Doubleday.
Gessen, Masha. 2020. Surviving Autocracy. Riverhead Books.
Snyder, Timothy. 2018. The Road to Unfreedom: Russia, Europe, America. Crown.
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