So You Want to Be A Dictator: A Supreme Leadership Guide for the Aspiring Authoritarian is a dark comedy, pseudo-leadership guide for budding autocrats written by C.T. Jackson. The guidebook has come to mind several times in the last few days as our political lives have begun to imitate satire.
First was President Trump’s announcement that he is banning three major media outlets from the White House. It is an act that not only mirrors the tactics of authoritarian leaders such as the former Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán and Russian President Vladimir Putin, but it could have come directly from the pages of this guidebook.
As the President arrived at the United Nations (U.N.) yesterday there was a surreal moment when he began berating Kaitlin Collins, a reporter from CNN, one of the ousted outlets. “You should not be here,” he bellowed. “You should not be here covering me,” he continued as Collins tried to explain the network was granted access by the U.N.
Then there was his speech which followed. It was his sixth address to the U.N. General Assembly (UNGA) and for those who have followed his speeches over the years, it was hard to imagine how he would top his fifth UNGA address during which he told world leaders their “countries are going to hell.”
Somehow, though, he managed to outdo himself. This time, telling the audience that he is weighing whether to commit a war crime by annihilating Iran or making a deal with them.
“I have a big decision to make,” he said speaking from the rostrum, either to make a deal with Iran or “annihilate the Islamic republic and do it quickly, never giving them a chance to kill and destroy people and countries again.”
It was stunning to hear anyone, particularly the president of the United States, stand on the podium in front of the U.N.G.A. and threaten to destroy an entire civilization.
And there is more, with the former leader of Venezuela sitting in jail a few miles away, Trump celebrated the invasion that led to his ouster. He did so despite the fact that the U.S.’s military action is one which most legal experts agree was a clear violation of international law.
Perhaps this helps explain why Trump also used time during the speech to call the International Criminal Court (ICC) a “rogue institution” and say its members should resign. There is nothing new here, his administration has been going after the ICC for some time and earlier this year sanctioned several of its leaders. As Trump told the New York Times earlier this year, he has no need for the ICC or international law, all he needs is his “own morality…[and] own mind.”
Trump not only boasted about the military action in Venezuela, but stated “to the victor belong the spoils”; a clear reference to the fact that since removing and jailing Maduro the U.S. has taken control of a large amount of the Latin American nations oil reserves. If anyone was unclear as to the motivation behind the action - Trump said the quiet part out loud - it was not to pursue and spread democracy, freedom, liberty, or anything of the sort, it was for material gain - in this case, oil.
Finally, as Cuba worked to restore power after a sixth major blackout this year due to the U.S. energy blockade, Trump predicted from the dais that the government would fall shortly. It was at that point the Cuban delegation stood up and walked out of the speech.
Life imitating satire? As it states on the jacket of Jackson’s guidebook: “So You Want To Be A Dictator? Well, dear leader, now’s your time! Democracy is so last century.”
