This is the real crux of the mattter. The rule of law means nothing when the autocratic authoritarians have installed corrupt judges that just rubber stamp the dictator's decrees. At every level, it's a bad faith execution of all the trappings of law, but with none of the ideals or justice. We see the same setup in every authoritarian country - it's not like Russia or China is lacking for laws - rather the authoritarian dynamic is always about how they're bent and abused to serve naked power.
The real problem is how many people eagerly eat and repeat the nonsensical bullshit, as if they are airtight logical deductions rather than mere rationalizations promulgated by the party's apparatchiks. I don't know if most people still just want to feel power from being on the "winning team" or if they're really unable to mentally model situations with independent parties that have their own rights while government has restrictions in order to preserve those rights, or what. Alas, it does not bode well.
I think it's a third thing: people ignore inconvenient issues as long as they get theirs. Conservatives just want to "win" conservative things and don't care if democracy dies in the process. They might even pretend democracy still exists with a single party in total control of the government.
That was the norm in 1930's Germany. They still had "voting", but only one party could win, and the state eliminated all opposition. (concentration camps were originally created to detain political enemies, and only years later started to include minority groups) Most Germans went along with it because as far as they could tell their nation was improving. Strong leader, better economy and rule of law, out with the old, convenient scapegoats to blame.
Russia and China both had long periods of murdering millions of people in order to break the people into submission for their new regimes. America hasn't had that yet, but history does rhyme.
The real problem is how many people eagerly eat and repeat the nonsensical bullshit, as if they are airtight logical deductions rather than mere rationalizations promulgated by the party's apparatchiks. I don't know if most people still just want to feel power from being on the "winning team" or if they're really unable to mentally model situations with independent parties that have their own rights while government has restrictions in order to preserve those rights, or what. Alas, it does not bode well.