"National crises often lead to more centralized power. But everything about this one is unusual..."

"... including President Trump’s decision to let state and local authorities make nearly all decisions about daily life and business activity. Washington provides expert advice, policy guidance, backup supplies, emergency personnel, and massive funding. It has not issued national mandates. Trump has refused to shift more power to the central government.... Trump’s reliance on federalism... caught the left by surprise. When the crisis began, liberals voiced their long-standing criticism: Trump is a wannabe dictator who will use this crisis as an excuse to exercise authoritarian power. He hasn’t.... Government leaders [have generally tended to] suspend the rules so they can act swiftly and decisively... That’s why Abraham Lincoln suspended habeas corpus, Woodrow Wilson the First Amendment, and Franklin Roosevelt the basic rights of Japanese Americans.... State and local officials already face mounting public resistance... Federal courts are taking hard looks at restrictions on speech, worship, protest, and business operations. They are skeptical of executive orders that override statutory laws. Judges are unlikely to waive constitutional protections for any extended period, if that...."

Writes emeritus polisci prof Charles Lipson.

So the "government leaders" who are targets of complaints about authoritarian power are the state and local officials, not Trump. Trump relied on the American tradition of federalism — a high ideal — to locate the criticism away from himself. This forces the anti-Trumpsters — the left — to choose between criticizing him for not being enough of a dictator or to shift to criticize the state and local officials — many of whom are on the left — for excessive authoritarianism. Or they could just be incoherent on the subject of authoritarianism and — if Trump takes control — call him a despicable dictator and — if state and local officials exercise control — declare that it's just lovely to be so effectively and masterfully controlled — thank you, Governor, thank you, mayor, and curse you horrible fellow citizens who don't follow orders.