How to destroy an autocrat's legacy

The probably final goal of every politician is probably to stay in memory in generations to come for good things he or she has done. His or her legacy. What to leave behind. What mark will she or he leave in the history. The legacy appears to be more important for autocrats and dictators than your ordinary leader of a country. And may be destroying or attempting to ones legacy might be a way to influence a bad politician.

Currently Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, as well as the members of his tech oligarch club are trying to destroy the normal normal we in the western hemisphere learned to like since the past 80 years, give or take. They take away public welfare, education, jobs and wage wars killing millions, only for their own selfish interests. There seems to be nothing to stop them to reach their goals. In many cases their citizens can only watch in awe when their lives are destroyed. Because starting a demonstration might just get them jailed or killed.

While suppressing the freedom of their people autocrats work on their legacy by showing the world outside the "good" things they do. Or doing something so profound it will have a prominent place in the history books. Some dictators like Kim Yong Un, or who ever is currently in power in Iran, suppress about every free will from people in their countries. Un wants to be seen as a substitute to God, while Iran rulers want to solidify their extreme religious believes at all costs. I would say that also applies in part to Israel. While it appears to me Putin wants the Soviet Union back, and Trump is about to erect a nationalist state, shaving off democracy as we know it. Many or most of their people don't like this, unless they have power too, which makes them beneficiaries, as well as henchmen to take from the poor (taking away health care and free education) and give it to the rich. To help that and make their work easier, rights — often fundamental — are stripped. It's attempted to get the courts, which in a democracy could prevent this, under their control.

While in autocratic regimes or dictatorships people cannot raise their voices without being arrested and imprisonment, there might still be a way to disrupt building a legacy.

Take Trump for example. Showing himself as golden statue in Gaza with the Palestinians removed, or a Jedi (of Star Wars) or even Pope, one can guess his ambitions, even though it might had been trolling. But in my opinion he sure wants the Nobel Price for Peace, like Jimmy Carter before him. After bombing the nuclear sites in Iran I have might doubts though he'll ever be nominated. Israel's Prime Minister might have begged Trump to bomb the sites, thus derailed Trumps chance to get the Nobel Price, even though that was sure not his goal. But there are or will be other chances to deny Trump to build a legacy which will be positively remembered. Then people should find a way to deny Trump that positive entry in his bucket list.

As for Putin, he wants the USSR from before 1989 back. Starting 2014 with the annexation of Crimea and continuing with the full scale attack on Ukraine 2022 he thought he was on his way. A quick and easy step, before invading countries in the Baltics and Poland. Putin thought his legacy might be that he might be remembered as the emperor restoring Russia to its old glory, only to be pushed back to reality because of underestimating Ukraine's resilience, and that Western countries would help Ukraine, by supporting them with weapons and put sanctions on Russia. Thanks to the resilience and sanctions Russia's economy is struggling. Putin (as of 2025) takes money out of state funds destined for the Russians. These funds are thought to be used up sometime in 2026, when the economy might take a nose dive which now also ordinary Russians will notice. Like in the last days of the USSR there will then be demonstrations, citizens demanding lower prices or even essentials like food. That should bring the Russian regime under Putin down. So, in this case the Ukraine people didn't allow that Putin is building a legacy for himself. He';; instead be remembered as failure, like Gorbachev, who wasn't able to hold the Soviet Union together with his reforms.

My conclusion is that every politicians main goal is to build a positive legacy for him/herself. If this politician is a crook, the citizens of the country he is the ruler should find ways to derail the rulers ambition to leave a positive mark in the history books of the future.