What is an authoritarian dictatorship and why Trump is being accused of it

Donald Trump has been accused of 'authoritarian dictatorship' following his latest antics amid the New York City mayoral race.

For those not in the loop, a new mayor is set to be elected in NYC on November 4th and Americans are getting ready to cast their votes. The candidates include Democratic politician Zohran Mamdani, Republican Curtis Sliwa, and independent and former governor Andrew Cuomo.

However, the US president has caused a stir online for making it clear exactly which candidate he doesn't want to win the election.

In a post shared to his own social media platform, Truth Social, last week, the US president seemed to hint that he would withhold funding from the city if Democratic candidate Mamdani were to be elected.

He wrote: "Self proclaimed New York City Communist, Zohran Mamdani, who is running for Mayor, will prove to be one of the best things to ever happen to our great Republican Party.

Donald Trump has been accused of being an 'authoritarian dictator' - but what does this mean? (Bloomberg/Getty Images)

"He is going to have problems with Washington like no Mayor in the history of our once great City. Remember, he needs the money from me, as President, in order to fulfill all of his FAKE Communist promises."

The Republican leader brutally added: "He won’t be getting any of it, so what’s the point of voting for him? This ideology has failed, always, for thousands of years. It will fail again, and that’s guaranteed!"

Now, understandably, this hasn't gone down too well with some Americans, who have accused Trump of being a 'dictator' following the post.

One Twitter user penned: "Trump says he will not give federal funding to NYC if Mamdani is elected. We're now living in a full-blown authoritarian dictatorship. First of all, that's not his money. And NY pays more to the federal government than it receives."

While a second wrote: "No big deal just the president threatening to withhold federal funding if a state doesn’t vote for the candidate he wants."

And a third added: "Donald Trump wants to use the power of his presidency to prevent NYC from holding free and fair elections, because he wants a puppet as Mayor, hand picked by him and his donors. This is what oligarch-financed authoritarianism looks like."

Trump seemingly threatened that if Mamdani becomes mayor, he may withhold funding (Spencer Platt/Getty Images)

What is an authoritarian dictatorship?

An authoritarianism is 'in politics and government, the blind submission to authority and the repression of individual freedom of thought and action,' as per Britannica.

Essentially, an authoritarian dictatorship is a system of government and does not afford their citizens civil liberties or political rights and has no established mechanism for the transfer of executive power.

Power is instead concentrated in the hands of a single leader or a small elite, whose decisions are taken without regard for the will of others.

Authoritarian dictators are therefore leaders who wield absolute power and rule a state without constitutional limitations or the input of anyone else.

The term has been thrown around quite a bit recently when it comes to Trump, despite him insisting he is not one.

As per Rolling Stone, he said in August: "I’m not a dictator. I’m a man with common sense and a smart person. The line is that I’m a dictator, but I stop crime.

"So, a lot of people say, ‘If that’s the case, I’d rather have a dictator.’ But I’m not a dictator, I just know how to stop crime.”

White House Spokesman Kush Desai said: “Communist Mamdani needs to stop projecting.”