Another excellent piece by Brands. One reason I don't like the term _dictator_ is this: Some commentator once said that "there's no such thing as one-man rule because even the king has to sleep at night." I call it the "Cromwellian rule of ten percent." Supposedly (and the story may be apocryphal) when at one point Cromwell's popularity dropped significantly, one of his cabinet members asked if he was concerned that nine out of ten people had turned against him. Cromwell allegedly replied: "What doth it matter if nine out of ten be against me if the one for me doth hold a gun to the back of the other nine?" In other words, even a Lenin or Trump can call on the support of a hardcore minority of supporters.
Another excellent piece by Brands. One reason I don't like the term _dictator_ is this: Some commentator once said that "there's no such thing as one-man rule because even the king has to sleep at night." I call it the "Cromwellian rule of ten percent." Supposedly (and the story may be apocryphal) when at one point Cromwell's popularity dropped significantly, one of his cabinet members asked if he was concerned that nine out of ten people had turned against him. Cromwell allegedly replied: "What doth it matter if nine out of ten be against me if the one for me doth hold a gun to the back of the other nine?" In other words, even a Lenin or Trump can call on the support of a hardcore minority of supporters.