A 26 percent authoritarian core is only a short step from electoral majority

Evidence

On my optimistic days, I say, “There is nothing to worry about. A solid majority of these American legislators rejected the premise underlying the Holocaust.” But on my pessimistic days, I realize, “The lawmakers who want the public to help stomp out whomever they consider to be ‘the rot’ already stand half-way to being the majority.” — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 3745

Categorization

• SEED: Angle for a piece: the arithmetic of authoritarian takeover — how a hard core of 20-30 percent plus crisis supplement reaches power, matching the reader’s theme that authoritarianism needs only a crisis supplement.
• XREF: Connects to the reader’s stated theme that a bedrock authoritarianism ‘needs only to be supplemented during a crisis’ — directly mirroring Altemeyer’s own framing here.