Here’s the simple authoritarian formula used by all impossible people everywhere, from the dining room chair to the tyrant’s throne. They’re impossible because they’re incorrigible; nothing ever changes their minds. They’re absolutists, not about anything in particular.
The formula is so simple that any idiot can master it and many do. It’s powerful and universal, the formula used by tyrants who take over the world and by frustrated people who can’t take the world and so pretend instead that they’re masters of it.
The formula is simply this:
Never listen to what you’re saying. Say anything to sound invincible. Say it with absolute confidence. Keep up an unbroken appearance of absolute certainty, piety, and victory —a Ponzi scheme impression of an eternal winning streak.
Attack all challengers as proof that you’re beyond attack. Expose their flaws as proof that you’re flawless. Expose their humanness as proof you’re superhuman. Keeping them in the hot seat keeps you out of it. Blare your police siren at others so loudly and continuously that it drowns out all challenges to your authority.
Blow all contrasts out of proportion. Your rivals’ minor gaffes are proof that they’re always wrong about everything. Zero credibility. Game over.
In contrast, your every trivial advance is proof that you are right about everything—game over before you play it. Everyone should listen to you only, because nothing but perfection flowers…
