Why Do Authoritarian “Rulers” Keep Losing to the “Little People?”

by | May 4, 2026 | Opinions & Commentary

The Magna Carta (originally known as the Charter of Liberties) of 1215, written in iron gall ink on parchment in medieval Latin, using standard abbreviations of the period, authenticated with the Great Seal of King John. Wiki Commons

Why Do Authoritarian “Rulers” Keep Losing to the “Little People?”

by | May 4, 2026 | Opinions & Commentary

The Magna Carta (originally known as the Charter of Liberties) of 1215, written in iron gall ink on parchment in medieval Latin, using standard abbreviations of the period, authenticated with the Great Seal of King John. Wiki Commons

Trump, Putin and authoritarians like them assume that everyone else is stupid and won't see what they are doing and what they intend in a clear light.

The “little guys” in this case are smaller countries who find themselves under full-scale attack by superpowers.

It turns out that in March of this year Ukraine destroyed a record 33,000 Russian drones sent to attack them in the 4-year long full-scale war Putin launched. Over a million Russian soldiers have died, 11,000 plus tanks destroyed, the numbers are staggering and keep rolling up. Additionally, Ukraine has now demonstrated the ability to counterattack Russian territory to a distance of 1,100 miles.

Compared to Russia, Ukraine is tiny and has not only successfully outsmarted and outfought Putin, but delivered endless embarrassment. Russia is clearly trying to erase Ukraine and its people with an overwhelming number of troops, equipment and swarms of drones. And just as clearly Russia is bearing the bulk of the pain.

Moving on to the arrogant stupidity of Trump attacking Iran. Certainly Iran has been bloodied and lost its leadership structure. The fact that the leaders killed were at the pinnacle of an intensely repressive regime is almost irrelevant. Their inherent bent toward suppressing their own people was just an excuse for Trump. The fact that Iran counter attacked the entire region, as they promised they would, is significant. Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz came as a surprise to no one with even a kindergartner’s level of knowledge of the area—but it was a surprise to Trump.

Trump however has done more damage to the US and world economy with his attack than he could possibly have calculated. This is not surprising since criminals are criminals because they lack the ability to visualize consequences. Among those “unexpected” consequences is the deaths and damage inflicted on our own military and diplomatic installations in the region. Damage cost estimates reaching up to $5 billion so far are being floated.

So now the “little guys,” the Iranians and Ukrainians are calling the shots in their wars with “super powers.”

The arrogance of authoritarian leaders is legendary. Facts and reality will always win over posturing claims of superiority. History has shown us, repeatedly, that the frantic overreach of the dictator-type personality will eventually come snapping back at them. It happened to Hitler, Mussolini, Pol Pot, the Apartheid government of South Africa. Sooner or later those who consider themselves “in charge” find out otherwise.

Probably the most uplifting recent example of this is the massive defeat of Viktor Orbán in Hungary. Orbán copied the actions of Putin for over a decade, taking control of the country’s legislature, the judiciary and the media—even gerrymandering the voting districts. But none of these typical authoritarian practices saved him. And when the new government is sworn in it is likely he and his cronies will face civic and even criminal liabilities. The incoming PM has warned that it appears Orbán and his people are preparing to flee.

All of these indications, despite the bloody aspects of Trump’s and Putin’s military blood lust, are actually hopeful. They bode well for our upcoming Primaries and Midterm elections. They clearly demonstrate that might does not make right—in fact quite the opposite. One cannot override knowledge and observation with rhetoric and lies, no  matter how many guns are backing up the rhetoric.

The Republican governors so eagerly trying  to curry favor with Trump by forcing through GOP-favoring districts to protect their majority in Congress may end up only damaging that majority more,

Orbán’s defeat in Hungary shows what can happen with a populace stands up and says, “Enough!”

History is choc-a-bloc full of examples like this going back to the Magna Carta in the UK that showed clearly that limits can be placed on a monarch’s authority and reach. Our own founding as a country is another example. America was founded on the action of overthrowing the authority of a monarch.

And now we are faced with someone who nakedly wields the ambition to be a monarch here.

But what is authoritarianism other than the ambition of an individual to override the wishes and in-built agreements of an entire society and population. Sure, that person will gather some agreement—psychotic criminal fools will attract other psychotic criminal fools to their side. Obvious. Why else would people like Stephen Miller, Pete Hegseth and Kash Patel have jobs.

But Trump’s tanking approval rating is just one indication that the United States has reached the stage of enough already. The Midterms will be the Rubicon we as a population will cross to overthrow a wannabe king from his palace of pomp and greed.

The fact of the matter is that no fascist wanna dictator can long overcome a population that just says, “No!”

Trump, Putin and authoritarians like them assume that everyone else is stupid and won’t see what they are doing and what they intend in a clear light. But as the evidence shows, Iranians are not stupid people, neither are Ukranians. Both have shown very high intelligence and capabilities born of high necessity.

That high necessity is being felt by the American populace at large in the face of Trump’s rampant criminality and efforts to suppress all opposition before the Midterms. The same things Trump is doing here were being done in Hungary and didn’t help Orbán at all.

Marty Kassowitz

Marty Kassowitz

Marty Kassowitz is co-founder of Factkeepers. As founder of Interest Factory and View360, he brings more than 30 years experience in effective online communications, social media management, and platform development to the site. He is a writer, designer, editor and long time observer of the ill-logic demonstrated by too many members of the species known as Mankind. After a long history of somewhat private commentary on a subject he totally hates: politics, Marty was encouraged to build this site and put up his own analyses as well as curate relevant content from other sources.

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