This text is part of the series “Trump’s Revenge” in which our reporters investigate the question: What would happen if Donald Trump moved into the White House again? In this episode, psychologist Karen Stenner talks about how democracies should deal with authoritarians.
Dr. Stenner, what is an authoritarian personality? These are people with a deep-rooted, fundamental bias towards uniformity and equality. Instead of freedom, individuality and diversity, they long for strong authorities and homogeneity. They tend to groupthink, like rules and regulations, and get annoyed when others don’t follow them. Too much complexity and freedom of choice overwhelms them. We all know people like that. The world today is poison for them.
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