A critical component of the authoritarian’s playbook involves not only the disparagement, elimination, or control of the free press, but also the use of propaganda. The latter is my focus here. Propaganda is a communication strategy designed to: obtain attention management through repetition, sow confusion and uncertainty, discourage critical thinking, instill loyalty and fear, motivate the masses to carry out the purveyor’s agenda of nationalization and persecution, and persuade the recipients that reality is whatever the cult leader says it is. While the authoritarians’ purpose and message have remained the same throughout modern history, propagandists have used the technology of their times to convey their communications.For example, Mussolini used newsreels, while Trump has used Twitter and now uses his “Truth Social” account to propagandize

LR: 1 CP: 1 - A critical component of the authoritarian’s playbook involves not only the disparagement, elimination, or control of the free press, but also the use of propaganda. The latter is my focus here. Propaganda is a communication strategy designed to: obtain attention management through repetition, sow confusion and uncertainty, discourage critical thinking, instill loyalty and fear, motivate the masses to carry out the purveyor’s agenda of nationalization and persecution, and persuade the recipients that reality is whatever the cult leader says it is. While the authoritarians’ purpose and message have remained the same throughout modern history, propagandists have used the technology of their times to convey their communications.For example, Mussolini used newsreels, while Trump has used Twitter and now uses his “Truth Social” account to propagandize