Lust for strongman in divided states of America
In her 1976 SF novel Arslan, M J Engh - incidentally, Mary Jane Engh - wrote about a foreign strongman invading the US and destroying its democracy with 'Asiatic' despotism. Looks like neither is Don Don's America too science fictional nor does the US need to look outside - they've got their own homegrown 'General Arslan' gunning for the Big House, making 'tough guyness' an object of awe and veneration.