Are Americans Really Looking for a Supreme Leader?

Each day Trump consolidates more and more power. The scarier question isn’t whether he wants to be a Supreme Leader. It’s why so many Americans seem to like the idea.

Written by Michael Cohen. Join him on Substack by clicking here for more.

Here’s a question that should chill you to the bone. Are Americans actually looking for a Supreme Leader? Because that’s exactly what it feels like each day in Trump’s America. Another executive order gets signed, another power shift lands squarely in the hands of the chief executive, and another Republican steps up to kiss the ring. Just yesterday, a Republican member of Congress proposed a bill to let Trump run for a third term. You heard that right: three terms. The same people who once screamed about FDR being some socialist king are now out here auditioning to be Trump’s personal handmaiden, carrying his Diet Coke tray into eternity. In fact, Trump 2028 merchandise is already available for purchase on their site.

And of course, we get the daily broken record that the system is rigged. The Democrats cheat and the only way they can win is by fraud. Newsflash… Trump has already won twice. He won all seven swing states. If Democrats are secretly masterminding a voter-fraud machine and still managing to lose every critical state, maybe they should fire their consultants and just try being legitimate for once. But here’s the kicker: Trump’s war cry against mail-in voting. Why? Because someone whispered in his ear that Democrats use it more than Republicans. That’s the whole rationale. Never mind that Trump himself has voted by mail multiple times. Never mind that military families — supposedly Trump’s favorite photo-op props — depend on it. In Trumpworld, if the rules don’t favor you, change them.

And that’s exactly what we’re watching take place in Texas. The legislature is gerrymandering the state like it’s a Picasso painting, carving out five shiny new GOP seats to pad the 2026 midterms. Democrats cry foul. Republicans shrug. And the whole circus devolves into a farce. The Texas GOP now requires Democratic lawmakers to sign permission slips if they want to leave the House chamber. One Democrat refused to sign. She remains locked inside the chamber like a misbehaving teenager grounded for sneaking out past curfew. This isn’t democracy. It’s authoritarian cosplay, complete with legislative babysitters — and not the good babysitter either.

Naturally, California responded by saying, “Fine. Two can play that game.” Now they’re redrawing their maps with the subtlety of a chainsaw, trying to even the score. So here we are: living through the political version of Mutually Assured Destruction, only instead of nuclear missiles, we’ve got redistricting maps designed by bitter partisans with crayons. This isn’t governance. It’s trench warfare. And once you normalize it, the center collapses.

Meanwhile, look around at our streets. The DC police are now federalized. ICE agents are practically on every corner. The National Guard still patrols Los Angeles like it’s Baghdad circa 2004. We’ve normalized the presence of armed federal muscle as if it’s just another quirk of American life — like Starbucks on every corner or potholes that never get fixed. And here’s the terrifying part: a whole lot of Americans like it this way. They like the “strongman” aesthetic. They like the order, the intimidation, the chest-thumping projection of control. It doesn’t matter if it’s unconstitutional, unsustainable, or un-American. To them, it feels powerful. It feels like winning.

And that, my Substack community, is the million-dollar question. Why do so many Americans look at this dystopian circus and think, yes, more please? Part of it is fear. Chaos scares people, and authoritarians sell themselves as the antidote to chaos — even though they’re usually the ones creating it. Part of it is resentment. People want someone to blame for their problems, and Trump is a master at handing them scapegoats. And part of it, frankly, is laziness. Democracy is messy. It requires engagement, compromise, patience. Autocracy is simple. One man decides, and everyone else shuts up.

But here’s the problem with this experiment. Once you crown a Supreme Leader, don’t be surprised when he acts like one. Today it’s banning mail-in voting. Tomorrow it’s banning opposition parties. Today it’s locking lawmakers in chambers. Tomorrow it’s locking citizens in camps. Sound dramatic? Maybe. But so did the idea of requiring permission slips for elected officials to enter and exit the chamber — until it happened. So did the idea of a third Trump presidential term — until someone proposed it on the House floor. So did the idea of soldiers patrolling Los Angeles — until they never left.

The real question isn’t whether Trump wants to be a Supreme Leader. He does. The real question is whether Americans are willing to keep letting him audition for the role. Because the more we accept the erosion of democratic norms as just “politics as usual,” the closer we get to waking up one morning and realizing democracy isn’t broken; it’s gone. And once it’s gone, no executive order will bring it back.

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