The rise of American authoritarianism - Vox

The American media, over the past year, has been trying to work out something of a mystery: Why is the Republican electorate supporting a far-right, orange-toned populist with no real political experience, who espouses extreme and often bizarre views? ... his support seems to cross demographic lines ... does surprisingly well from the Gulf Coast of Florida to the towns of upstate New York...

his supporters who seemed to have come out of nowhere, suddenly expressing, in large numbers, ideas far more extreme ... A PPP poll found that a third of Trump voters support banning gays and lesbians from the country. Twenty percent said Lincoln shouldn't have freed the slaves.

Last September... Matthew MacWilliams realized that his dissertation research might hold the answer to not just one but all three of these mysteries...

Trump, it turns out, is just the symptom. The rise of American authoritarianism is transforming the Republican Party and the dynamics of national politics, with profound consequences likely to extend well beyond this election.