Tyrants have borne many titles throughout history—first citizen, sovereign, emperor, fuhrer, caudillo, duce—but they all share a few common traits. Historians of antiquity describe how the first Roman emperor’s ability to “shape opinion” allowed him to maintain the appearance of protecting democracy, while in reality he was undermining its institutions in order to create a “new state.” Political science observes a similar phenomenon. This is not simply a matter of distorting reality or cultivating a certain image: it requires the active undermining and gradual destruction of the rule of law.
It is no coincidence that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu faces serious corruption charges, just as it is no coincidence that Donald Trump is the first convicted felon to serve as president of the United States. The same is true for Jair Bolsonaro of Brazil and Alvaro Uribe of Colombia, two former autocrats trying to return to politics. Tyrants are, at their core, outlaws.
This may be key to understanding the appeal of populist authoritarians: although wealthy and privileged, they manage to present themselves as authentic representatives of “the people” and as a bulwark against the excesses of “elites.” Outlaws are fundamentally outsiders, and their legal battles can be presented as evidence that state institutions are actively targeting those who challenge the establishment.
This strategy depends on widespread distrust in institutions, and that is abundant today. A 2024 survey found that only 23% of Americans trust the federal government, and only 29% believe that democracy works. Across OECD countries, on average, only 39% of people have confidence in government institutions.
On such a basis, an autocrat only needs one electoral victory. Tyrants rule for themselves, their close associates, and occasionally their supporters—never for their opponents. Anyone who tries to hold them accountable—the media, the judiciary, civil servants, academics—is portrayed as biased, deceitful, or an agent of the “deep state.” From that point on, it is only a short step to dismantling democratic institutions.
No authoritarian populist has played the role of a victim of a rigged system and political persecution better than Donald Trump. After all, he managed to convince a large part of Americans that Joe Biden “stole” the 2020 election, and on January 6, 2021, he called on his supporters to disrupt the transfer of power, which led to an angry mob storming the US Capitol building. On the first day of his second presidential term, Trump pardoned nearly 1.600 people convicted of crimes during that riot, in which five people died, including a police officer guarding the Capitol.
Ahead of Brazil’s 2022 elections, Bolsonaro followed Trump’s lead, warning that if he lost, it would be because of electoral fraud. After he was defeated by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, a mob of his supporters stormed Brazil’s federal government buildings. Since then, Bolsonaro — who is facing trial for an alleged coup attempt — has called for amnesty for those convicted of crimes committed during the attacks, while at the same time lamenting the “relentless persecution” he is allegedly “suffering.”
Uribe, for his part, insists that his recent conviction for witness tampering and the investigation into the 1997 massacre of peasants by paramilitaries while he was governor of western Antioquia were acts of “political revenge.” Right-wing media outlets have repeated the claim, and it has proven convincing enough to provoke mass rallies by Uribe’s supporters.
As for Netanyahu, he is waging a brutal war in Gaza partly to distract from his years-long trial on corruption and bribery charges. In the meantime, he has used his position to pressure and even remove relevant officials. More broadly, he is seeking to weaken the authority and independence of the judiciary.
Tyranny is rarely an exclusively domestic phenomenon. While dictatorships can exist in isolation, tyrants have long understood that strength lies in numbers. In addition to emulating successful tactics, they often stand by each other, publicly defending and even supporting the regimes of their fellow tyrants.
Trump is a typical example. In “defense” of Bolsonaro, he raised tariffs on Brazil to 50%, even though the United States has a large bilateral trade surplus with that country, and imposed sanctions on Alexandre de Moraes, a Brazilian Supreme Court judge leading the investigation. Similarly, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has accused “radical judges” of “weaponizing” the Colombian judiciary against Uribe. The US House of Representatives Budget Committee cited the Uribe trial when proposing a 50% cut in civilian aid to Colombia in 2026.
But Trump defends no tyrant as vociferously as Netanyahu. What “out-of-control prosecutors” are doing to the Israeli leader is “INSANE,” Trump wrote recently on social media. In another post, he called for the trial to be immediately dropped or for Netanyahu to be pardoned, and even implicitly threatened to cut off military aid to Israel if the “witch hunt” continued. It was the United States that “saved Israel,” he concluded, and it is the United States that will “save Bibi Netanyahu.”
By portraying himself as a kind of protector of populist authoritarians, whom he sees as comrades in the fight against the liberal state, Trump is elevating himself and normalizing his behavior at home. In this context, his administration’s support for El Salvador’s recent decision to abolish presidential term limits—clearing the way for another autocratic president, Najib Bukele, to remain in power indefinitely—should concern us all.
If there is still the slightest doubt in the minds of his supporters, Trump - like his fellow tyrants - has a trump card up his sleeve: religion. None of these leaders are truly religious, but all are forging alliances with powerful religious communities. Netanyahu and Trump go a step further, claiming - with no apparent sense of irony - that they have been chosen by God to save their countries.
If patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel, the mantle of divine calling elevates that scoundrel above mere mortals and their rules. As Trump ominously said, “He who saves his country breaks no laws.”
The author is Vice President of the Toledo International Peace Center; he was the minister of foreign affairs of Israel
Copyright: Project Syndicate, 2025. (translation: NR)
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