Democratic backsliding historically follows an electoral pattern where voters elect leaders who then gradually reduce competitive elections and opponents by using lawfare and constitutional mechanisms; examples include Viktor Orbán and Vladimir Putin, who were both initially elected.

Populist leaders globally—Trump, Javier Milei, Geert Wilders, Georgia Meloni, Marine Le Pen—employ shared stylistic elements of disruption, showmanship, and anti-establishment rhetoric, but their substantive policy positions differ dramatically, with Milei being a libertarian, Trump an economic populist, and Wilders focused primarily on immigration control.

Trump did not merely use rhetoric to convince supporters; he used tools of government including attempts to replace Justice Department officials to construct an alternative reality about the 2020 election result, constituting abuse of power distinct from mere persuasion.

Liberal democracy as a procedural system is judged by voters not on its processes (fairness, rule of law) but on its outcomes (economic growth, social stability), creating vulnerability: when liberal governments fail to deliver growth or stability, voters may turn against either the party in power (non-systemic) or the system itself (systemic threat).

All of Trump, Milei, and Wilders share stylistic elements of 'weird hair' and performative masculine rebellion against liberal politics, which is a real commonality despite their different substantive platforms.

What unites diverse strongman leaders is not a shared ideological program but a common set of conditions where existing governments and ruling elites have failed to deliver on economic growth and stability, creating voter willingness to tolerate or embrace disruptive figures and anti-democratic impulses.

January 6 Capitol riot participants believed they were saving democracy, not undermining it, and their sincere conviction in this does not change the fact that their actions were undermining the system; everyone throughout US history who has acted to secede or overturn the union has claimed to be upholding its greatest principles.