It usually starts the same way—not with a declaration of dictatorship, not with tanks in the streets, but with a target. An opposition that isn’t just wrong, but illegitimate. Dangerous. Corrupt. A threat to the nation itself. The language shifts first, almost casually: political rivals become enemies, opposition becomes sabotage, disagreement becomes disloyalty. Once that line is crossed, the rest follows with surprising speed, because the argument has already been won in the minds of enough people that removing the opposition no longer feels like repression—it feels like necessity.
