Expert in authoritarianism reveals why Trump shirked visit to US military cemetery in Paris — but...

Interesting.
Let me posit an alternate theory.
Notably absent was the UK Prime Minister. Why? Brexit negotiations and tensions therein.
All of the actions of world leaders on the world stage is predictable. It is something we call politics. It is not new. President Trump didn't start it.
Macron thought it was politically expedient to take shots at Trump and the USA by extension, even going so far as to say that Europe needed its own military to defend against Russia (makes sense), China (huh?), and the USA (wait, what?). Never mind that the occasion was to commemorate the end of a war that France was enthusiastic about joining in order to avenge their humiliating loss in the Franco-Prussian War and regain Alsace-Lorraine. Or that the United States had to enter with 2 million fresh troops to bail out an exhausted stalemate and force the Germans to terms.
Macron did that because demonizing outsiders is as old a tactic as there is in governments. Surely it is Trump's fault that France has fallen behind in the world. Yeah, right.

Anyway, to the author's point on autocracy, that would require Trump to behave as an autocrat. The most autocratic-like thing he does is how he interacts with the media to drive the narrative to his purpose. However, the difference is that in America we have an independent, not a state, media industry. They can print whatever they want, and often do. Why they get suckered over and over again by the President going way back to when he was a candidate is an ongoing mystery to me. Aside from that trait, he is no different than former Presidents in the exercise of ever-increasing executive power.

Trump is no more a autocrat for meeting with the Putins of the world than Obama or W was.
Or FDR was for meeting with the likes of Stalin. Or locking up thousands of Japanese-Americans in internment camps due to race... oh, wait.

Last I looked, President Trump hasn't gotten us into any questionable conflicts with no coherent objectives and no end in sight.
Did Obama do that? Nope. Syria, Libya, and a couple of adventures in Africa.
Did Bush do that? Nope. Iraq, Afghanistan, and Yemen.
Maybe Clinton? Nope. Bosnia, Kosovo.
Bush Sr? Nope. Somalia.
Sounds to me like folks around the world would rather benefit politically from making Trump the boogeyman, while they benefit from the security American power provides.

"Kinda makes sense"....If you are a complete lunatic. She has attended schools long enough to get a PhD so she can espouse this sort of pap for the masses. She is what I like to call a highly educated idiot.

"That is his goal and objective,” she concluded...wonder what are her goals and objectives with this nonsense. This should have a humor tag.