This is the reason some people are drawn to “strongmen” leaders

Political scientist & author Brian Klaas says “strongmen” leaders like Vladimir Putin activate a template in the human brain, causing many to gravitate toward them. Klaas tells Reality Check’s John Avlon about his research into sociopaths – how they are naturally drawn to power and all too often, succeed in getting it.

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69 comments

  1. Its all about making the angry poor and Middle class feel like your going to help them and make there lifes better

    1. Even more, it’s about giving them as many things to fear as possible. Everything under the sun. Nowadays, Big Bird, Mr. Potatohead, and the new M&M’s are even on the list of things they are supposed to be afraid of.

    2. Democrat’s have control of the all three branches of government right now…and have done nothing to help anyone in this country! No matter how you see yourself politically…They just want to talk about narcissism, push racism, and sexual propaganda on kids, and get involved in pointless wars that do nothing to help working class Americans EXT…Their only interest is sewing divide while protecting their own corrupt slithering snake skin! Narcissism CNN, REALLY🙄🤦‍♂️

    3. _@YourBestBudG!_ … *your comment highlights your ignorance about how our government works (or doesn’t). Maybe it is wilful on your part as it is easier to blame “the others” for a lack of progress from our legislators rather than attempt to understand the process. Knowledge is a powerful thing, my friend.*

    4. @Glo Girl …and your mislead trust in corporate media, corrupt politicians, and the all the bloodsucking institutions that do everything they can to create, control, and propagate narratives that do nothing but create divisions, and destroy communications is simply typical🥰 So that highlights too me, that if you don’t like someone’s opinion about something…You’ll just paint them with the same brush as anyone who has a differentiating opinion than yours, and assume that because they think one thing…they have too be all the other nasty thing you don’t like to🙃 Wait minute🤔 That sound bite about narcissism🤪 refreshing too know we’ve all learned so much🤦‍♂️

    1. @ANDY VAN KERKHOVE It is not solving they have a house Russia plunder their house but other countries (especially america )are just watching

  2. They project confidence whether they know what they are doing or not and they know how to flatter those above them and oppress those below them at any cost (to others). Being a sociopath, they have no regard for the welfare of others. That is the essence of getting and keeping power.

    1. @Melek Altınöz Simple answer, Russia has nukes. Excluding total catastrophe in command, America could annihilate Russian troops in conventional warfare. We’re the best killers in the world. Top predator and all that crap. It’s a role. It doesn’t mean we’re right. It doesn’t mean Russia couldn’t put up resistance. It just is and Russia knows this. Putin knows being the top predator has limits. Putin is playing on those limits.

      Russia has not attacked an ally. If Russia attacks a NATO member, it’s WW3.

  3. Same way people flock to bullies in school and work. It’s not rocket science especially when power corrupts and its intoxicating.

    1. @Coldwynn Frost they get passable grades without studying, they get away with criminal activities.
      If you’re poor n weak, just keep your head down.
      If you’re poor but strong (good fighter) be a muscle.
      In most asia you never get on the bad side of the rich, that’s suicidal.

    2. @Apollion Sacrez Leonard It’s the same in the West. People who speak out about the crimes the powerful are doing tend to have a career ending event. There’s a whole network of coercion and restriction among the wealthy as to who might continue and who doesn’t.

      It’s not a system of selecting the most capable, a meritocracy, as we are sold. The end result appears to be a shadow government of privileged incompetents whose value depends upon restriction to confidential information and nepotism.

      It comes down to what one thinks a human life is.

    3. @Coldwynn Frost
      There’s an infamous case in indonesia.
      A son of a conglomerate family shot a waiter dead in a nightclub, just because his girl friend said the waiter is handsome. The kid was sent to prison for 6 years (a really soft sentence for murder n possesion of firearm). He officially got out in 3. But it’s a common secret that the kid never spent one night in prison.
      Now he’s a congressman in 2022.😅

    4. That’s why Mango Mussolini fancies himself a despot and conducts himself as one + runs the GQP as his own personal Red Army.

  4. A “strongman” will destroy everyone around him if he thinks for a moment it’s to his advantage.This is example of common sense, not being so common.

    1. @Ed Maphis Traitor. That oil shale was subsidized out the wazoo and only exists because U.S. taxpayers, the ones who are lighting their drinking water of fire, are being screwed.

    2. @Coldwynn Frost I’m not sure you know what traitor means. If shale was subsidized out the wazoo, it was subsidized out the wazoo during the Obumer era. That’s when most of the development happened.

  5. “War is rich old men protecting their property by sending middle class and lower class young men off to die. It always has been.” – George Carlin

    1. This Republican party is a useless party. It used to be the party of Lincoln and now it is the party of Trump. Yes! Putin’s apprentice. As bad as Bush was as a president, he has realized that the country is now dealing with evil people in the party that are leveraging the party by making it to look like a fight between the Democrats and the Republicans and that  my friends is far from the truth. This Republican party only have three policies namely LGBTQ, abortion and taxcut for the super wealthy. Then they use culture wars to make people in the party loyal to the party. Which party gave us social security, Medicare, ACA  etc. That is the Democrat party. The Republican party called all these safety laws, “socialism”. They bank on people’s anger to win election while doing the exact opposite of what will help the people.  That doesn’t mean that Democrats are saints, but at least you will see their real intentions are good even if they get it wrong sometimes. The far right wing of the Republican party is in control of the party and their ultimate goal is genocide against the so called “others”. So who are the others? Anyone.  Democracy is what’s preventing their ultimate goal from happening and that is why they want to end democracy after all thesame democracy elected a black president and will one day elect a woman president etc.
      Some people understands what is really happening while others don’t.  Evil can never defeat good.  The real intentions of a person is of the spirit and that is what God will judge. The four pillars of this Republican party are propaganda, projection, fear and leverage. Hitler was a far right nasasistic fascist.  You can never satisfy them because it is a matter of time you will next in line for destruction. Trump or any of his family has never served in the military or sacrificed anything for this country, but they built a golden statue of him. When a person hates others more than they love themselves that is evil. We must learn from history and science to predict the future.

    2. @michael Ro Things look bad in the short term, but in the long term I am cautiously optimistic. What are the MAGAts going to do with all of the non-whites? Hard to believe they could pull off a “final solution” on a scale that would leave them in the majority, even if they were to completely shut down immigration… which I’m sure is what they are planning should Trump ever return to power.

    3. @michael Ro Do Americans even realize that Trump got a LARGER percentage of the white vote in 2020 that he got in 2016? 54% in 2016. 58% in 2020. This white supremacist movement is still GROWING!

    4. How funny, the US is sending troops to NATO countries where there are NO russian troops. The US and NATO should have intervened but instead watching Russia take over Ukraine, what a pathetic foreign policy!

    1. No, they succeeded because they can solve problems instead of busy making profits in marcket now. And ditch the ally like a toilet paper.

  6. They only appear strong to people who are weak and insecure. People who are self aware do not fall for these pathetic people. Truly strong people never have the need to bully, manipulate or threaten people.

  7. Children who honored and loved their Authoritarian parents and never fought them back. I have been fighting back since I was four years old.

  8. I understand what the Social Scientist is saying and I agree with him. But at the end of the day, it’s still the blind leading the blind. People just need to have a bit more common sense now more than ever.

  9. The issue is some leaders will respond irrationally when cornered with no avenue of escape and will be forced to “let us die together”. So USA and Nato should thread carefully not to trigger the only option of WW3. The West generally are poor in understanding the Art of War not merely militarily only compared to the East.

    1. @LD Well, its not like those who desire have great qualifications. Advisors grow on trees.

      However, Rump supposedly didn’t want to be elected and a couple others had it thrust on them. They turned out to be turds. There is a little more to this.

  10. Actually, not all the strongmen are sociopaths, and not all sociopaths are strongmen. However, bullying and manipulation may bring sociopaths into power, but it never lasts long.

  11. The are only “strong” in the sense that they are amoral, willing to do anything for power. The positive connotations around the word ‘strong’ needs to be shed as they are not admirable people if they have no love for anyone but themselves. What draws people in is the hidden wish that they might not have to care about others and not feel guilt when they betray their own inner humane values. We serve our principles and sometimes that is inconvenient to our desires.

  12. “On the basis of overall rankings (independent of respondent’s party affiliation), Trump’s personality was collectively perceived to be at or above the 99th normative percentile for traits associated with four personality disorders (sadistic, narcissistic, antisocial, and passive-aggressive).”
    Jacob A. Fiala, Salwa A. Mansour, Shannon E. Matlock, Frederick L. Coolidge | Voter Perceptions of President Donald Trump’s Personality Disorder Traits: Implications of Political Affiliation

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