You are correct, unfortunately. There must always be a contingent that supports the autocrat or else he would not be in power. "universal" is indeed too broad a

You are correct, unfortunately. There must always be a contingent that supports the autocrat or else he would not be in power. "universal" is indeed too broad a term. And indeed, in the US there were things like the Madison Square pro-nazi rally in 1939. And just as there were pro-democracy denunciations of Pinochet that Nixon et co ignored, so too today there is denunciation of appalling autocratic behavior that will be ignored and will need to be watered down to justify to the public. Perhaps in the past too there were arguments of the form "thousands of political firings do not constitute a purge because the New York Times is X" I am accustomed to solution oriented discussions on these topics. So while interesting from an anthropological point of view, defense and praise of autocratic behavior is a breaking distraction from finding solutions.