What he doesn’t yet have is broad gratitude — the quiet, durable sense among ordinary Americans that life materially improved because he’s in charge.
Institutional capture can compensate for a while. Media consolidation can mute criticism. Election rule changes can tilt margins. Bureaucratic purges can hollow resistance.
But durable authoritarian rule — the kind that lasts decades — usually requires more than tilted machinery. It requires a country that feels dependent.
Tom doesn’t feel dependent. He feels busy.
He’s thinking about next semester’s rent. About internships. About whether switching majors will delay graduation. He plans to vote, he tells himself. He assumes the system will still look the same when he does.
Somewhere, a state election board updates its certification protocol. A newsroom reassigns a reporter. A licensing review moves forward quietly.
Tom refreshes his feed.
The rule change takes effect anyway.