Ego defense and American authoritarians

Hey, folks,

I've been thinking a lot about American authoritarianism as we watch the situation unfold in Ukraine, breath held and fingers crossed for those gallant people--and some of the worst apologists for our own authoritarian elements rally to Putin's defense.

None of this is surprising, of course: they love him because they want to be him, which seems to me ineffably sad. Here's a man with more power and money than many nation-states, and he can't even sit down at a table with a fellow world leader because he's afraid they'll slip some polonium into his tea. After all, it's what he would do.