External threats raise authoritarianism most among moderates, not committed authoritarians

Evidence

I should note that in the many scenarios in which I found the role-players became more authoritarian, the High RWA subjects did not go up all that much. (They already believed the world teetered on the edge of chaos.) Instead, the Moderate and Low RWA students jumped up the most. Perhaps they would only become more authoritarian temporarily. But “temporarily” was all Hitler needed to seize power and eventually plunge the world into the most murderous war of all time. — Bob Altemeyer, The Authoritarian Specter, 1183

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to scholarly debates on the authoritarian personality and political tolerance; also the fragility of democratic norms under crisis. — connects to: Authoritarianism operates independent of status-threat condition — Brenda Major and Alison Blodorn and Gregory Major Blascovich, The threat of increasing diversity: Why…, 73
• DEEPTHINKING: The insight that threats radicalize the moderate middle rather than the committed fringe — and that ‘temporary’ authoritarianism suffices to seize power — resists easy summary.