The Making of One Nation

Donald Trump has sounded the alarm, over and over again, that the United States is facing an “invasion” by dangerous gang members. He blames immigrants for the country's economic problems and claims protesters are destroying US cities.

Trump is not the first would-be autocrat to manufacture a crisis to seize extraordinary powers.

So, is the United States really facing a national emergency? Or is this just a tactic on Trump’s part to amass more power?

Mentioned in this episode:

We're asking for your help.

https://donate.theconversation.com/au

Every autocrat needs a clan of loyalists, strategists, masterminds – these are the figures behind the scenes pulling the strings.

They’re unelected and unaccountable, yet they wield a huge amount of power.

This is the role Stephen Miller has played for Donald Trump – he is the architect in chief for the second Trump administration. He has so much power, in fact, he’s reportedly referred to as the "prime minister"

So who is Stephen Miller? And why are architects so important in helping a would-be autocrat amass power?

Mentioned in this episode:

We're asking for your help.

https://donate.theconversation.com/au

We used to have a pretty clear idea of what an autocrat was. History is full of examples: Adolf Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, along with Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping today. The list goes on.

So, where does Donald Trump fit in?

In this six-part podcast series, The Making of an Autocrat, we are asking six experts on authoritarianism and US politics to explain how exactly an autocrat is made – and whether Trump is on his way to becoming one.

Mentioned in this episode:

We're asking for your help.

https://donate.theconversation.com/au