1. I want to talk about this @DouthatNYT column, and why I think it's wrong — mainly, that it misunderstands what "authoritarianism" is https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/10/opinion/sunday/trump-election-authoritarianism.html

2. The piece focuses heavily on Trump's personal incompetence, arguing that he's not disciplined or smart enough to conduct a 1930s-style power grab. And fair enough!

3. But the crucial error the piece makes is conflating "authoritarianism" with executive dictatorship.

The actual concern with Trump is that he enjoys the backing of a *party* that has proven itself to be willing and able to undermine the fairness of American elections.

4. "One-party rule," rather than "one-man Trump rule," is the real threat: that the president's authoritarian impulses pushes the entire GOP to embrace theirs.

The endgame isn't Nazi Germany, it's modern Hungary — as I wrote in 2018 after a trip there: https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2018/9/13/17823488/hungary-democracy-authoritarianism-trump

5. Once you use this lens, things look a lot more worrying.

Take the Supreme Court, for example. Douthat is right that Roberts has rebuked Trump, but cases like Shelby County show a willingness to support the party's voter suppression initiatives.

6. Trump's personal incompetence is less of a problem then, too. The key actors here are members of Congress and state-level politicians: Trump's outbursts act as a permission structure, giving them carte blanche to try and take the election.

7. The nightmare scenarios this November don't depend on Trump dreaming up a sneaky plan to steal the election — it depends on Trump saying the election is fake, and then much smarter and more competent Republican operatives figuring out how to act on that.

8. The real problem is bigger — the modern conservative movement's willingness to abuse counter-majoritarian institutions and constitutional hardball to prevent Democrats from winning elections and governing. Trump is an enabler and an intensifier, but not the root cause.