“The strongest backing is a river that erodes the very rock it claims to support.”

“This political pilgrimage merely reveals a desperation for the authority a quiet mind would not need.”

“Such endorsements manufacture the common sense that mistakes authoritarian drift for national interest.”

“An American politician seeks a strongman's favor, proving the dog is wiser for wanting neither.”

“Power always seeks its own echo abroad, mistaking the chorus of one for the consent of all.”

“If a house divided against itself cannot stand, then a nation praising division abroad cannot lead.”

“Those who would champion liberty at home find strange company abroad among its sworn enemies.”

“The revolutionary who embraces the caudillo betrays the republic he once claimed to serve.”

“When the path to power leads through the master's house, you are not on the road to freedom.”

“A finite mind travels to affirm a finite world, refusing the infinite possibility of a free people.”

“They talk of national sovereignty while denying the sovereignty of a woman over her own body.”

“This political adaptation, favoring the strongman over the community, is a selection for a weaker species of democracy.”

“'Strengthening bilateral ties' is the phrase used when one power agrees to overlook the other's tyranny.”

“Endorsements for authoritarians are not isolated incidents but a clear pattern against democratic practice.”

“Another foreign savior arrives to bless the iron house, calling the locked door a national custom.”