Source: Common Dreams
by Thom Hartmann
“Most jobs have a ‘playbook,’ a sort of instruction manual or checklist for how to do the job right, whether it’s running an assembly line, piloting an aircraft, or redoing a house’s plumbing. Although our media seems oblivious to it, dictators have a playbook, too. It’s one that’s been carefully followed in recent times by Putin, Orbán, Erdoğon, Duterte, Bolsonaro, and numerous initially-elected leaders of other smaller nations. In previous generations the Dictator’s Playbook was followed, step-by-step, by Mussolini, Hitler, Franco, Marcos, Pinochet, Stalin, and Tojo (among others). And now it’s being followed by Donald Trump and JD Vance, who’re a bit more than halfway through the list.” [editor’s note: For starters, what were Lincoln, Wilson & FDR (and others who occupied the POTUS throne, if not “dictators?” – SAT] (10/01/25)
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/trump-first-american-dictator