John Oliver Breaks Down Authoritarianism in Last Week Tonight Season Finale

In the season five finale of HBO’s Last Week Tonight, John Oliver left viewers with a handy checklist of three traits to look out for in authoritarian despots, including one that may just be taking hold in the United States.

“Many authoritarians project strength out of a real concern that they may be seen as illegitimate,” Oliver says. “In the same way a man who is insecure about his penis buys a motorcycle, or takes up bodybuilding, or invents the Tesla.”

First and foremost, there’s “projecting strength”—“spectacles” of national power, such as military parades, and of personal strength, like Chechen Republic leader Ramzan Kadyrov’s wild workout videos.

These leaders claim they need to flex this strength in order to protect their citizens, which leads into what Oliver identifies as the next major trait of authoritarianism: demonizing enemies.

“Authoritarians often go out of their way to identify, and sometimes manufacture, a group of evil-doers from whom they and they alone can save the country,” he says. In a tense political climate, authoritarians present themselves as the simple solution to their citizens’ problems. This includes targeting already-marginalized groups.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban, for instance, has stoked fears of Muslims and refugees, while Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed homosexuality was a weapon of the EU amidst a dip in popularity in his country.

As they gain power, authoritarians consolidate their rule using this third trait: dismantling institutions. Journalists, courts and legislatures are threatened; in recent years, Turkey, China, Hungary and Venezuela have all faced pressures on their checks and balances, and Poland looks to be headed the same way.