On the morning run I asked myself why I dislike Trump more than Biden (I do this sort of thing a lot). I think it’s due to Biden being within the normal realm of what I dislike in politicians. Whereas Trump is like other historical illiberal chaos agents who seek to maintain power exclusively for the power itself. You see it in his immoderate rhetoric, in his efforts to appeal to the most base instincts of the populace, in his appeal to his supposed physical strength, and of course in his populist policy agenda that appeals to erroneous but popular prejudices like xenophobia. While not as extreme, he reminds me a lot of Mao in this way. So much so that I’m just waiting for Trump to swim across the Mississippi to show us his vitality.
That being said, I suspect that Trump will frustrate his supporters even more in a second Presidency than in his first because our institutional framework will continue to stymie his efforts to make the state his fiefdom. Especially as he’s overpromised* a lot of things as he tends to do. The 22nd Amendment is one of the chief of these impediments and I’m glad it is in place.
FWIW, a lot of my views of Mao come from the works of Frank DiKotter. Check them out if you want to see what a narcissistic, power hungry leader can do to a country.
*One of the things I like about Keir Starmer is the moderation in what he promises. One of my chief critiques of Obama, outside of our many policy differences, was him promising the moon to people.