#1759 Why Dictators Are Lunatics and Their Followers are Fools
Best of the Left - Leftist Perspectives on Progressive Politics, News, Culture, Economics and Democracy
Jay Tomlinson
4.6 • 3.4K Ratings
🗓️ 22 December 2025
⏱️ 211 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Air Date 12/22/2025
It's said that mockery is one of the most effective weapons against dictators. I guess it depends on your goal, but still, there's truth there. And the good thing in that regard is that they are so very mockable. No really nice, likable, non-clownish people make themselves dictators and so the people who do are, without exception, absolutely ridiculous lunatics who deserve all the mockery and disdain in the world.
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KEY POINTS
KP 2: Why Is Trump so Obsessed with the Kennedy Center? - Post Reports - Air Date 8-14-25
KP 4: A Guide to Propaganda - Shawn Grenier | The Canvas - Air Date 1-29-23
KP 5: How Dictators Really Control the World I Anne Applebaum Part 1 - Brad Carr - Air Date 9-18-25
KP 6: On The Epstein Loop and Parallel Improvisation - Robert Arnold - Air Date 12-20-25
(00:47:46) NOTE FROM THE EDITOR
On Trump's narcissism
DEEPER DIVES
(00:55:26) SECTION A: MADE UP AWARDS
(01:18:24) SECTION B: MONUMENTS TO SELF
(01:40:40) SECTION C: PROPAGANDA WORKS
(02:08:56) SECTION D: DICTATORS ARE ALL THE SAME MAN
(03:04:50) SECTION E: DICTATORSHIPS ALWAYS END
HOW IMAGE CREDITS
Description: Cartoon image of Trump in the famous portrait of King Louis XIV, with a giant long curly wig, tights and robes.
Credit: "donald-trump-louis-xiv-létat" by heblo, Pixabay | Pixabay License
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to this episode of the award-winning Best of the Left podcast. |
| 0:07.1 | It's said that mockery is one of the most effective weapons against dictators. |
| 0:11.1 | I guess maybe it depends on your goal, but still, there is truth there. |
| 0:14.5 | And the good thing in that regard is that they are so very mockable. |
| 0:19.6 | No really nice, likable, non-clownish person ever makes themselves a dictator. |
| 0:27.2 | And so the people who do are, without exception, absolutely ridiculous lunatics who deserve all |
| 0:34.7 | the mockery and disdain in the world. For those looking for a quick overview, the sources providing our top takes in about 45 |
| 0:40.9 | minutes today includes Internet Today, Post Reports, The Secrets of Statecraft, |
| 0:47.0 | Sean Grinier, Brad Carr, and Power Corrupts. |
| 0:51.0 | Then, in the additional deeper dives half of the show, there will be more in five sections. |
| 0:55.5 | Section A, made up awards, followed by Section B, Monuments to Self, Section C, Propaganda |
| 1:02.7 | Works, Section D, Dictators are all the same man, and Section E, dictatorships always end. |
| 1:11.2 | But first, a reminder to check out our new show solved on the Best of Left YouTube channel. |
| 1:15.9 | We're really proud of the show we're making and you're going to get real value out of it. |
| 1:19.7 | You checking it out actually helps us find new viewers on YouTube. |
| 1:22.8 | So thanks in advance for all of your views, likes, subscribes, and comments. |
| 1:26.7 | That's all on the Best of Left YouTube channel. |
| 1:29.1 | Link in the show notes. |
| 1:30.2 | And now, onto the show. |
| 1:38.3 | Behold, the inaugural winner of the FIFA Peace Prize, Donald J. Trump. That's right, FIFA, the soccer people. |
| 1:48.9 | They're giving out peace prizes now. Sure, why not? And what a strange and wonderful coincidence |
| 1:55.4 | that the first person to receive this honor is the president of the country hosting most of the games of the |
... |
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