autocrat

“Before the eyes of the world,” he said, “Brazil sent a message to all would-be autocrats and those who support them. Our democracy and our sovereignty are nonnegotiable.”

Bangladesh made impressive economic gains on Ms. Hasina’s watch, but many of her compatriots came to see her as a corrupt autocrat bent on holding power at any cost.

Successful autocrats convince broad swaths of the public that the nation is in a crisis so great that democracy must be sacrificed to save them.

Firebrand newspaper proprietor and independent presidential candidate Ralph Volcere has used his weekly publication to denounce the priest-president as a self-serving autocrat – and has since been banished from State House press calls.

Which is why autocrats always go after comedians pretty early on.