Flying false flags and fighting fake fires: How autocrats build their power

Can we stop them?

Mysterious bombers hit a Russian apartment block in 1999 (Wikipedia)

So faithfully is Donald Trump following the autocrat’s playbook it’s as if Vladimir Putin had written the script for him.

Here’s how the section on power grabbing goes.

The wannabe dictator turns a minor crisis into a major confrontation. He – it’s always a “he” – deploys the repressive p…