"[F]or 100 years authoritarian leaders have invested in propaganda to convince people to believe their lies, to participate in their corruption, and accept their racism and violence as normal and necessary. ...Personality cults are key to success of authoritarian propaganda. ...20th century cults depend on mass-media... -mobilization and... -surveillance so the leader can seem omnipresent... [P]ropaganda is a set of communication strategies... to sow confusion and uncertainty, discourage critical thinking and persuade people that reality is what the leader says it is. ...From Mussolini's ...newsreels to Trump's and Bolsonaro's use of Twitter, authoritarians have had direct communications channels with the public... and... pose as authentic interpreters of the . ...Strong men disappear people, but they also disappear knowledge that conflicts with their ideologies and goals. ...All 21st century authoritarians suppress climate change science because it discourages the plunder of s that generate profits for them and their cronies."