#2: Authoritarian Power is Mostly Performance
Authoritarians don’t need tanks to take power. They need TV stations, newspapers, and social media to create the illusion of invincibility. If they can project total control, people fall in line, especially when times feel chaotic and unsafe.
In the first post of this series, I laid out the core dynamic of democratic decline: a massive information war. On one side is the public. On the other, a would-be autocrat trying to stay in power permanently. Both try to convince the other they are stronger, larger, more determined. But what matters isn’t who’s stronger, it’s who looks stronger.
That’s why image control is everything.
Why Performance Works
Authoritarian regimes survive by projecting strength. They want people to believe resistance is a waste of time, that everyone is happy, that the leader is wildly popular even if support is fake.
This illusion does three things:
It deters opposition.
It keeps elites in line.
It creates momentum: people fall in line with what they think is inevitable.
But autocrats have vulnerabilities. Their popularity can plummet. Major business elites can defect. Military support can be elusive. The media could stop velvet-gloving him. So they work hard to keep those cracks hidden.
Here’s how they do it.
Tool #1: Control the Media
The first step is to shape what people see, hear, and read. They don’t ban dissent - that’s too obvious. They just flood the system with narratives that reinforce the leader’s story: they are strong, the opposition is weak.
Viktor Orbán gave a masterclass in this after returning to power in 2010. His government took control of media licensing, filled Hungary’s regulatory council with loyalists, and gave it power to fine or shut down outlets for “unbalanced” reporting. State advertising went only to pro-government media. Loyal oligarchs bought up newspapers, TV stations, and websites, and then quickly shifted them to pro-Orbán talking points. By 2018, nearly 500 outlets were merged into a single, state-aligned media conglomerate.
We’re seeing similar tactics in the U.S. after Trump returned to power in 2025.
Right-wing outlets like Fox, Newsmax, and OANN get exclusives and early access. CNN and The Washington Post are sidelined or sued. Trump has filed lawsuits against CBS, CNN, and threatened legal action against The New York Times. All are designed to silence dissent.
At the same time, conservative donors are buying up local TV and radio in swing states. Sinclair Broadcast Group is poised to expand under a friendlier FCC. Trump has also redirected federal ad dollars and threatened to defund NPR and PBS. New legislation is in the works to give the FCC more power to regulate “bias” in broadcast news.
Tool #2: Intimidate the Messengers
Not all journalists fall in line. That’s where intimidation comes in.
You don’t need to jail reporters to scare them. You can threaten lawsuits, launch harassment campaigns, or signal to employers that critical coverage has consequences. Over time, editors assign fewer risky stories. Reporters self-censor. Whistleblowers stay silent.
That silence protects the regime’s weak spots (it’s crumbling alliances, the unease in the military, a nervous business elite) by making sure the public never sees them.
Tool #3: Manipulate Social Media
Social media is the autocrat’s most powerful weapon. It’s direct, fast, and largely unregulated.
Autocrats use bots, troll farms, and coordinated online networks to flood platforms with content. They paint themselves as the protectors of law and order, national identity, family values. And they tarnish opponents as corrupt, foreign, radical, or dangerous.
In the Philippines, President Duterte’s allies used coordinated social media ops to glorify him and discredit critics. Senator Leila de Lima was falsely branded a “drug queen.” Troll farms amplified loyalist blogs like Mocha Uson’s which sent Duterte’s raised-fist salute viral.
In Russia, Putin’s regime used the Internet Research Agency to inundate social media with conspiracy theories about Alexei Navalny, calling him a CIA asset. After Navalny was poisoned, pro-Kremlin accounts made fun of it and questioned whether it actually happened.
The goal is confusion. When people don’t know what’s true, they become silent, and that silence helps autocrats grab more control.
Tool #4: Use Force Strategically
Protests are a stress test. They force autocrats to act and every state act is revealing.
The smartest autocrats don’t overreact. They use just enough force to show control but not fear. Trump was smart when he didn’t overreact to the “No Kings” protests.
Putin understood this in 2021. When Navalny’s arrest sparked mass protests, police moved quickly, arrested organizers, and cleared the streets. The message was clear: we’re still in charge.
Assad did the exact opposite in 2011. When peaceful protests began in Syria, he sent in tanks and snipers. The brutality radicalized moderates, escalated conflict, and helped ignite a full-blown civil war.
Force sends a signal. Autocrats who use it strategically survive. Those who panic often don’t, or they drag their countries into war.
The Cracks That Matter
Every autocrat has weaknesses: divided elites, restless militaries, shifting public opinion. If those cracks become visible, the whole illusion can collapse. That’s why the information game matters. Control the narrative, and you buy time to gain more and more power. Lose it and everything can unravel.
In the next post, I’ll talk about these weaknesses and how the public can recognize them, and what happens when they do.