Written by Jason Montoya. Posted in Society.

The 2024 Presidential Election Is Not About Policy: Understanding the Impending Authoritarian Political Landscape

Imagine you have to choose a babysitter and you have two options.

Option 1 is a teenager from the neighborhood and the second is a criminal.

Which do you choose?

This absurd scenario is intended to quickly clarify the context America is now inside and the absurdity of so much of our conduct in response to our context.

Choosing between two neighborhood babysitters is the "land of normal politics".

Choosing between a criminal and a neighborhood kid is like the "land of authoritarian politics".

If it's not obvious, choosing a criminal to babysit your kids is not an option.

It doesn't matter how effective or knowledgeable the neighborhood kid is or is not, the criminal is just not an option. So the choice is the neighborhood kid.

Pretending like the criminal is one of two normal options is how criminals manipulate us and sustain control.

"We need people to understand you cannot elect people that you wouldn't hire. If you wouldn't trust someone to babysit your kids, you probably shouldn't elect them president." - Liz Cheney

Those that have dealt with an abusive narcissist or psychopath know that treating those relationships as if they are normal, will result in a tragic nightmare that never ends.

It's my experiences with people like this, alongside a recovery from my political extremism stint, that protected me from the current Trump spell over the Republican party.

So, how does this metaphor translate to the realm of American politics? Let us explore.

The Land of Politics: Normal & Authoritarianism

"This is not an election about policy or tax cuts. This is a referendum on what kind of political system we want for America. Will it be democracy or autocracy?" - Ruth Ben-Ghait

So, what is the land of politics, and what makes it normal or authoritarian? How do we know if we're dealing with a metaphorical criminal in the political landscape?

The land of politics is the disposition of our societal system. As long as I've been alive, we've operated in the land of normal politics; our democratic republic.

But, we're now in a different type of power struggle in the land of authoritarian politics where voters repeatedly cling to a single charismatic individual even if they lose (Brian Klaas). This land is dominated by personality cults and tribal morality.

The core difference between normal politics and authoritarianism is the difference between choosing a leader based on performance and winning and choosing based on cult-like loyalty absent of winning virtuous behavior, and healthy character. They are worlds in direct contrast. And it's a choice between these two worlds we face in the upcoming election.

The cult-like loyalty in the land of authoritarian politics exceeds just losing elections, it also extends to the permission given to the leader's behavior — from dismissing to valorizing.

In the land of normal politics, losing presidential elections, attempting unconstitutional power grabs, inciting violent insurrections, committing business fraud, sexually abusing women, saying we should terminate the Constitution, or being convicted of felonies would cause an American political leader to lose all support.

Trump did all of these things and his support continues. It not only failed to hurt his political chances, it made him more popular among his loyalists.

Even a simple hot mic moment, like when Clinton uttered the word "deplorables" or when Romney said "women in binders" can be campaign killing, in the land of normal politics.

But in the land of authoritarian politics, these things do the opposite of wrecking a candidate; bad behavior reinforces candidate loyalty and increases popularity with his or her base.

This concept and distinction comes from Brian Klaas, author of the book, Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How it Changes Us (affiliate link). Klaas explains in an interview how the authoritarian loyalists are brought deeper into the fold.

"You set up a worldview in which the true believers are pitted against the [wishy-washy] fans. The way you sort them out is by increasingly extreme lies. And the lies you buy into have some social costs outside of the movement." - Brian Klaas, The Land of Authoritarian Politics

It’s in this land of authoritarian politics, where we end up in a constitutional crisis (or several) that has the potential to shatter our union irreversibly and move us permanently into that new authoritarian landscape.

So, when our history and the tradition of a peaceful power transfer are at risk, policy becomes secondary to what is primary.

Imagine embracing the threat to America's peaceful transfer of power because the candidate will give you what you want in a policy you like.

Back to our metaphor, imagine preferring the criminal to the neighborhood kid because you like the criminal's babysitting experience and how they approach it. How absurd!

And that brings us to our next point about operating in absurdity as if it's normal.

Normality Magnifies Lawless Leadership in the Land of Authoritarianism

“Dwelling in denial is the default mode for millions who have taken our freedoms for granted and don’t want to think about how their lives would be altered by the advent of authoritarian governance in America.

Americans are not the first to live in a state of collective denial. Authoritarians have often told us what they are going to do, but people have rarely believed them, or they have felt that since they didn’t fit the profile of those the autocrat was targeting, they wouldn’t be affected. Later, when it came their turn to be harassed or persecuted, it was too late to do much about it." - Ruth Ben-Ghait, Denial about Donald Trump is deeper than ever

This situation in America with the Republican Party is made worse when a large portion of moderate citizens and leaders in the land of authoritarian politics operate as if we’re in the land of normal politics, dismissing and engaging with high conflict in ways that unknowingly, amplify the toxic dynamics.

In a normal marriage, there is conflict. But in an abusive marriage, it has moved beyond the spectrum of normality into a dangerous zone. Coaching a spouse to work out their marital conflict as if the situation is normal will further enable the abuser. Normality in these situations makes the situation worse.

Trump is the worst type of person to elect as our president. The job of the president is to support and uphold the Constitution. His job, in the end, is to ensure a peaceful transfer of power. He not only failed to do that in 2020 but actively worked against it. And after the fact, said the constitution should be terminated all based on a lie he continues to peddle.

Unconstitutionally consolidating state and congressional power into the presidency, as Trump attempted, is the way to seriously harm our democratic republic. It is how we risk harming America's multi-century tradition of peacefully transferring power from one leader to the next (a miracle in itself). This tradition matters more than any other policy.

Back to our original metaphor, imagine if you hired a criminal to babysit your children and he tried to kill them, but your kids got away. Imagine then deciding to have the criminal babysit your children again, all the while, excusing that person by saying he was unsuccessful in his murder attempt or that there was no way he would be successful at it next time.

Now imagine doing normal interviews for the babysitting job with both the neighborhood kid and a criminal to watch your kids. What does that say about yourself? What does it communicate to the criminal?

That's the situation we're in with our 2024 presidential election. And to see it as such requires rejecting our denial and seeing things as they are, not as we want them to be.

“By ... reframing Trump’s incoherent and often dangerous rhetoric as conventional political discourse, major news outlets are failing in their duty to inform the public and ... providing cover for increasingly erratic behavior from a former—and potentially future—president.” - Bandy X Lee, MD, MDiv

So how do we know if we're dealing with an authoritarian threat?

I've got four directives to easily help us answer that question. The fact I had to come up with these and communicate them is an indication of the threat we face.

4 Tests to Identify America's Core Threat: 4 Pro-Freedom Rules For Voting In the 2024 Election

So, how do we protect ourselves from generating worse and worse candidates and voting for worse and worse options? We must draw the line.

We will always find reasons not to vote for our political rivals. The key here, outside of a vision, is to clarify the lines we will not cross to support someone in our group. When will we not vote for them? What line, when they cross, will lead us to support the rival who has not crossed that line?

Without this clarity, we'll spiral downwards allowing corrupt leaders in our tribe to garner our support no matter how low they go.

Here are the bi-partisan pro-American lines I've drawn.

Fundamentally, America is about freedom over tyranny, responsibility over blame, shared structural power over dictatorship, honest elections over dishonest ones, and the peaceful transfer of power over violent transitions of power. These values and ideas are what makes America unique and strong.

Derived from these values, I've identified four voting rules to easily see leaders who embody the values and those who are a threat to them.

Pre-2016, these rules were not necessary because most of us embodied them. But now, that it's no longer the case, so we have to use these rules to effectively and more easily navigate the impending authoritarian landscape.

Rule 1

A) Vote For People Who Tell The Truth About Biden Winning the 2020 Election (American Freedom).
B) Vote Against People Who Deceive About Biden Not Winning The 2020 Presidential Election (Tyranny).

Rule 2

A) Vote for People Who Condemn Trump’s 2020 Unconstitutional Power Grab and The January 6th Capitol Attack (American Freedom).
B) Vote Against People Who Dismiss Trump’s Unconstitutional Attempts to Stay in Power & Defend The Jan 6 Storming of the Capitol (Tyranny).

Rule 3

A) Vote For People Who Will Accept the Election Results and Participate in the Peaceful Power Transfer, Even When They Lose (American Freedom).
B) Vote Against People Who Won't Commit To a Peaceful Transfer of Power & Claim the System is Corrupt Only When They Lose (Tyranny).

Rule 4

A) Vote For People Who’ve Publicly Acknowledged & Turned Away From Their Failures On Rules 1, 2, & 3 (American Freedom).
B) Vote Against Those Who Support & Endorse People Who Break Rules 1, 2, & 3 (Tyranny).

These simple rules clarify who will help us make America great while also protecting us from those who wish to thwart our country for selfish gain. If you want to understand these rules more deeply, check out my previous article explaining them here.

If you want an even simpler rule, on your presidential pick, Nick Cattogio, from the Dispatch, provides one.

"...all anyone needs to know to prefer the Democrat this fall is that we shouldn’t risk having a president (again) who cannot cope with reality when it becomes emotionally difficult. Harris 2024: There’s something wrong with him." - Nick Cattogio, Something is Wrong

Working Together To Promote Freedom and Stop Tyranny

From the top down, a large portion of Republican leadership does not pass the rules. The cancer is widespread in my political party.

"We have to defeat election deniers. It’s not just Donald Trump…We can't elect people who will only certify elections that they agree with the result, that they win.” - Liz Cheney

The Republican Party has stage five cancer and the party leadership is in denial about it. Here's why we know it is diseased.

Trump lied about the 2020 election. He deceived tens of millions of people about the election outcome. He attempted to unconstitutionally consolidate state power into the presidency. He threatened and intimidated the vice president and Congress to wrongly change the election results. And he incited a violent storming of the capital, including the direction to hang the vice president, while not doing anything while the storming of the capitol unfolded. And almost all of the Republican leadership went along with all of this, enabling and participating at each step, including after it happened.

Since Trump's unconstitutional power grab attempt, he and Republican leadership have perpetuated the lie, dismissed the morally wrong actions, and valorized those who participated in the wrongdoing.

This demonstrates that they will allow or want these things to happen again (the logical conclusion of not condemning it and vaporizing it instead). Trump is already saying the 2024 election is going to be stolen from him and setting the stage for a Stop the Steal 2.0. Campaign. By all accounts, we're looking at a sequel to January 6th this year, and sequels are usually bigger and more expensive.

So, I fundamentally care about continuing America’s 200-year tradition of peaceful transfers of power from one president to the next. With Trump, we don’t get this. Instead, we get chaos and division. With Harris, we get this tradition continued and someone who embodies the core values of what makes America great.

If I did not believe there was a serious threat to the peaceful transfer of power with a Trump presidency, and this was simply an election between two candidates who would embrace that tradition but had differences in policies, I would not have been so vocal on this issue. I would not have written and shared these societal essays I've been doing over the last year. I would not be actively permitting Republicans to vote for a Democrat. I would instead be focused and spending time on the many other things I care much more about.

The reason I'm not focusing on things I value more than politics is because so many Republicans have embraced the lie, abdicated responsibility, and enabled a tyrant.

Imagine if I abdicated the responsibility to protect my family, or even celebrated and invited the threat into my home! And then, my kids had to step up and do something. That's the situation with the Republican Party. The adults have lost their minds and moral compass, and the responsible kids are now having to intervene.

And that will require collaboration. And, it's this context that requires Republicans to rise above their partisanship and prioritize country over party.

Steven Levitsky articulates this powerfully.

"...when faced with a would-be authoritarian, establishment politicians must unambiguously reject him or her and do everything possible to defend democratic institutions—even if that means temporarily joining forces with bitter rivals.” - Steven Levitsky, How Democracies Die

This collaboration is vital, not just for the future of our country but also the globe because the intrusion of authoritarianism is happening around the world. If we can't overcome it internally, we'll fail to address it worldwide.

So, the stakes are high for all of our futures.

Former Republican Congressperson, Liz Cheney, articulates the stakes and why it matters so powerfully.

"It's not personal from my perspective, with one exception. And that is that I'm a mother. I'm the mother of five kids. And it is personal to me that my children grow up in a country where they know they can depend on the peaceful transfer of power, that they grow up in a country where their elected officials put fidelity to the Constitution first. That's how it's personal to me.

It's personal to me when I listen to fellow Republicans in the past say things to me like, well, it's fine. There are guardrails. You know, he can't do that much damage. It's just simply not true. I mean, on those guardrails, we had the Supreme Court has now issued its immunity decision declaring essentially that a president has immunity for anything that president may do, virtually anything, that can be in any way defined as an official act.

How does that immunity decision by the Supreme Court, what does it mean to it, the possibility of a second Trump administration? Well, it obviously makes the danger even greater.

But when you look at what Donald Trump would be able to do with the levers of power, the extent to which he's already said, he will not abide by the rulings of the courts. Our courts can't enforce their own rulings. If a president won't abide by the rulings of the courts, the rule of law disintegrates immediately.

He's made clear that he will, for example, pardon the January 6 rioters.

And if you think about the Republican Party, this is another point where they're presenting themselves now as a party of law and order. Donald Trump sat for hours and watched people in his name brutalize the police officers, law enforcement, at the United States Capitol. He sat for hours and watched on television and ignored the pleas of his family and others, saying you have to tell the mob to go home.

So this is not a president who believes in the rule of law. This is a president who will use violence to achieve his own ends. And I think that the potential of the damage that he could do were he elected again is significant.

It's also important to remember, on January 6, the person who perhaps played the most, single most important role in addition to the law enforcement officers who physically fought was Vice President Pence, because he refused to do what Donald Trump was telling him to do, illegally and unconstitutionally throw out votes. JD Vance, who Donald Trump has picked to be his vice presidential running mate, has said specifically that he would in fact do that, that he would put Donald Trump's orders and instructions ahead of the Constitution. And it is hard to imagine a much graver danger than a president and a vice president who will put themselves above the Constitution." - Liz Cheney

Serious & Consequential, But Not Something We Can't Overcome If Harris Does Not Win

"[This election] It is serious; it is consequential. But our system of checks and balances has demonstrated we can persevere and overcome the wrongs that may occur in a given Presidency." - Elizabeth Neumann

A quick reminder of the risks ahead. However things unfold and no matter how bad they get, Americans will overcome. Look back across history. England invaded America, and we overcame it. The South enslaved an entire population of people and we liberated them. And that involved a civil war to resolve.

The consequences may be more costly and messier than I'd prefer, but ultimately what is true and good will prevail.

And Christians have lived (and currently live) in much worse situations across history, while still thriving as they love their neighbor and serve those around them.

This is why we should embrace peaceful political participation in this chaotic election year. We don't want to lose our souls in our fight for freedom and redemption.

HOW We Encourage Freedom & Push Back Against Tyranny Matters: Peaceful Political Participation

So while the stakes are high, it does still matter how we engage and does not absolve of us our moral responsibility. We must stand in the tension.

If we operate with deception and morally wrong actions, to bring about some desired outcome, we have become part of the problem. Truth and goodness matter when we fight for freedom and against tyranny.

When it comes to political participation, we must embrace love and respect for our rivals and we must engage peacefully and truthfully. As much as Trump is a danger to our society's flourishing, he is made in the image of God and there is always hope for him (and all his supporters) to experience redemption.

Hostile-action extremism is a form of lawlessness that does not make things better but makes them worse instead. Across political parties, we must not entertain violence against each other or political leaders, because we disagree, or when we lose.

And, staying truthful and peaceful, creates a strong moral contrast to the moral corruption, prominent lies, and violent rhetoric of Trump and the Republican party. This empowers American voters to see the difference when they cast their votes.