By Sasha Alex Lessin, Ph.D.(Anthropology, UCLA) and Janet Kira Lessin, (CEO, Aquarian Media) Contributing Author: Janet Kira Lessin
INTRODUCTION
A PATTERN, NOT AN ACCIDENT
The United States was founded in explicit rejection of monarchy, inherited power, and rule by fear. The Constitution established a radical premise for its time: political authority flows upward from the people, not downward from rulers. Yet American history reveals a recurring contradiction. When presidents invoke war, emergency, or existential threat, democratic restraint weakens, and executive power expands. This shift rarely requires formal suspension of the Constitution. Instead, it operates through emergency logic, selective enforcement, and cultural pressure. Speech remains legal in theory while punishment follows in practice. Dissent survives on paper but becomes dangerous in reality. This article examines a pattern that has repeated across U.S. history: presidents who embodied royalist or oligarchic instincts, presidents who temporarily crossed into authoritarian behavior under pressure, and presidents who resisted that drift while governing during a crisis.
DOMINATION CONSCIOUSNESS AND POLITICAL POWER
Anthropologists and political historians identify two recurring models of governance. One rests on partnership, consent, and shared accountability. The other rests on domination, hierarchy, and coercion.
Domination consciousness does not require kings or dictators. It emerges whenever leaders equate dissent with danger and loyalty with virtue.
War reliably activates this mindset.
When leaders frame conflict as existential, they justify extraordinary powers, narrow acceptable speech, and demand obedience in the name of survival.
The United States has not escaped this pattern. It has repeated it.
U. S. PRESIDENTS WHO EMBODIED ROYALIST OR OLIGARCHIC RULE
John Adams rated Order over Liberty
John Adams entered office convinced that dissent threatened national stability.
In 1798, he signed the Alien and Sedition Acts, which criminalized criticism of the federal government.
His administration jailed journalists and political opponents while insisting constitutional order remained intact.
Adams preserved the form of democracy while undermining its substance.
He treated speech as a privilege contingent on loyalty rather than a right inherent to citizenship.
His presidency established a lasting precedent: speech may remain legal, but punishment follows if authorities deem it dangerous.
Andrew Jackson ruled by military force, ignoring laws
Andrew Jackson governed through force, not consensus.
He expanded presidential authority, ignored Supreme Court rulings, and enforced policy through military power.
His administration carried out the forced removal of Native American nations despite clear legal objections.
Jackson treated resistance as defiance rather than lawful disagreement.
He framed his actions as a defense of the “common man,” yet he relied on domination rather than on the democratic process.
Jackson’s presidency represents one of the most explicit expressions of authoritarian rule in American history: executive will overriding law, courts, and human rights.
Donald Trump championed naked kleptocracy.
Donald Trump broke with precedent by openly expressing authoritarian impulses.
He threatened political opponents with imprisonment, praised executions, admired foreign dictators, and framed dissent as treason. Unlike earlier presidents, he did not cloak these impulses in constitutional language.
Trump normalized the idea that loyalty outweighs law.
While legal institutions constrained his actions, his rhetoric signaled an intent to govern through personal allegiance rather than democratic accountability.
His presidency revealed how quickly domination consciousness can reemerge when cultural and institutional guardrails weaken.
