Did Trump create the authoritarianism in our society, or was he just a symptom of it?

[MiddleRoad]

We live in a socially authoritarian society the last few years…

The Vax / mask mandates
Lockdown
The social Puritanism (see “age of consent should be 25”)
Cancel culture in all forms (be it for having “wrong view” on Twitter, or otherwise)
Biden scapegoating the unvaxxed as essentially enemies of the people

We live in a society that is growing social authoritarianism.

Many have called Trump an authoritarian, a literal Nazi

Question is, did he create this increasingly authoritarian landscape, or was he just a symptom of it?

[S019]

I don’t know if he created it per se, but he surely normalized and accelerated it.

[CumbrianLefty]

Most things are symptoms rather than causes.

There are only a relatively few (mostly pretty big) exceptions.

[Senator Incitatus]

If we're talking solely about authoritarianism "in our society," (rather than in theory) Trump had no impact. He exulted state power often in opposition to corporate power, which is the real locus of control in American society. He was not very effective at it, however; he did it mostly on his instinct, which was traditionally (i.e., state) authoritarian.

[bagelman]

I like to think that Trump poured gasoline on a candle, but in reality although he did exacerbate things he wouldn't have won the presidency and enjoyed devotion to this day from the GOP if authoritarianism wasn't already an issue. Dubya himself may not have been as blatant as Trump in this regard but some of his supporters were.

[brucejoel99]

I mean, when we live in a society that actively glorifies such aspects thereof as police & the military in our pop culture to such an extent that they seemingly permeate nearly every one of our movies & TV shows in one way or another, it should be no surprise to anybody who understands the American people that many thereof might have a strong tendency to be predisposed to authoritarianism, i.e., just waiting for the right strongman to come along & convince them that everything's gonna be okay so that they can feel okay again. This pattern can even be observed among the young, albeit in a fashion admittedly moreso gravitated toward herd authoritarianism, e.g., controversial/uncomfortable opinions not being allowed.

[President Johnson]

I don’t know if he created it per se, but he surely normalized and accelerated it.

He's a symptom, not the cause I'd say. But the second part of that sentence is very accurate.

[Ferguson97]

https://twitter.com/vanillatary/status/1348506148694085633

[President Punxsutawney Phil]

I mean, when we live in a society that actively glorifies such aspects thereof as police & the military in our pop culture to such an extent that they seemingly permeate nearly every one of our movies & TV shows in one way or another, it should be no surprise to anybody who understands the American people that many thereof might have a strong tendency to be predisposed to authoritarianism, i.e., just waiting for the right strongman to come along & convince them that everything's gonna be okay so that they can feel okay again. This pattern can even be observed among the young, albeit in a fashion admittedly moreso gravitated toward herd authoritarianism, e.g., controversial/uncomfortable opinions not being allowed.

Just an aside, but this is admittedly a quite scary phenomenon to see. Our democracy thrives off variance in opinion and free thought, and Americans are (maybe increasingly) perhaps unable to actually understand the ethos of that?

[Absentee Voting Ghost of Ruin]

We live in a socially authoritarian society the last few years…

The Vax / mask mandates
Lockdown
The social Puritanism (see “age of consent should be 25”)
Cancel culture in all forms (be it for having “wrong view” on Twitter, or otherwise)
Biden scapegoating the unvaxxed as essentially enemies of the people

We live in a society that is growing social authoritarianism.

Many have called Trump an authoritarian, a literal Nazi

Question is, did he create this increasingly authoritarian landscape, or was he just a symptom of it?

You're conflating authoritarianism and criticism. (I'm not sure what the best label for that rhetorical fallacy is. Snowflakeism?) Authoritarianism is demanding strict obedience to authority.  If our overall culture was authoritarian as you falsely allege, then Republicans' favorite activities like raping minors, trying to kill their fellow citizens by ignoring public health basics, and spewing bigotry and xenophobia would be banned. Those engaging in them would be reliably executed or jailed. Instead, what you're actually whining about is that when Republicans do deplorable things and harm others, they face criticism. Republicans are judged and evaluated by others on their behavior. And since what they do is frequently reprehensible, those responses from the rest of society are seldom favorable.

[OSR stands with Israel]

https://twitter.com/vanillatary/status/1348506148694085633

Reaganism and Thatcherism worked and as bad as things were in the 2010s , it still wasn’t as bad as the 1970s .