The Despot's Apprentice: Donald Trump's Attack on Democracy

”[A] primer on the threat to democracy posed by—and I can’t believe I’m saying this—the current president of the United States.”
—David Litt, New York Times bestselling author

Donald Trump isn’t a despot. But he is increasingly acting like The Despot’s Apprentice, an understudy in authoritarian tactics that threaten to erode American democracy, including:
 

• Attacking the press
• Threatening rule of law by firing those who investigate his alleged wrongdoings
• Using nepotism to staff the White House
• and countless other techniques
  
  Donald Trump is borrowing tactics from the world’s dictators and despots. Trump’s fascination with the military, his obsession with his own cult of personality, and his deliberate campaign to blur the line between fact and falsehood are nothing new to the world of despots. But they are new to the United States. With each authoritarian tactic or tweet, Trump poses a unique threat to democratic government in the world’s most powerful democracy.
  
  At the same time, Trump’s apprenticeship has serious consequences beyond the United States. His bizarre adoration and idolization of despotic strongmen—from Russia’s Putin, to Turkey’s Erdogan, or to the Philippines’ Duterte—has transformed American foreign policy into a powerful cheerleader for some of the world’s worst regimes.
  
  In The Despot’s Apprentice, an ex-US campaign advisor who has sat with the world’s dictators explains Donald Trump’s increasingly authoritarian tactics and how Trump uniquely threatens American democracy... and how to save it from him.

Brian Klaas is the author of The Despot’s Accomplice and a Fellow in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics, where he focuses on authoritarianism and democracy. Klaas received his doctorate from the University of Oxford. He has advised NATO, the European Union, national governments, and major international NGOs. He previously served as a US campaign adviser. Klaas is a columnist for DemocracyPost at the Washington Post and is a regular contributor to USA Today, Foreign Affairs, Newsweek, the Financial Times, the Los Angeles Times, and The Hill. He is also a regular guest on MSNBC, CNN, CNBC, Bloomberg, BBC News, Sky News, and National Public Radio. He is an American currently living in London, UK.

David Talbot is the New York Times bestselling author of Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years and The Devil’s Chessboard. He is the founder and former editor-in-chief of Salon and has written for the New Yorker, Rolling Stone, and Time. He lives in San Francisco.