“The framers of the U.S. Constitution were definitely worried about an authoritarian president. And I think they were really worried about demagogues, who are a bit like strongmen," says Eric Posner, author of 'The Demagogue’s Playbook.'
“If G-d wanted to be a strongman, you would expect Him to make His presence ubiquitous,” writes Rabbi Tzvi Freedman. “Yet his PR claims He doesn’t even have a face that we can see.”
Examining the role that charisma, deception, scapegoating and even psychopathology might play in the way strongmen leaders attract a following and hold onto power.