To arrive here, a place of nonsensical truth, you must answer two questions. First, what type of person is Donald Trump? Second, what type of political and social environment is Trump operating in?

On Trump the man: here, a personality profile of dictators is useful, created by University of California neuroscientist and professor emeritus James Fallon. Dictators are not all the same: Moammar Gadhafi is not Adolf Hitler, Xi Jinping is not Gadhafi – but Fallon finds striking psychological similarities among most. Dictators are charismatic, grandiose, manipulative, remorseless, emotionally shallow, unempathetic, hypersexual, impulsive, irresponsible pathological liars. Many exhibit poor marriage choices, paranoia, abusive behaviour, sexual deviancy and – perhaps most conspicuously – awful taste in art.

True, nobody is qualified to diagnose Trump, because he would never go to a therapist. But one doesn’t need to know him to know him. Through his attention-dependency, Trump has happily demonstrated dictatorial tendencies in full public view.

His charisma: manifested in his reality show and rally devotees.

His grandiosity: in boasts about the hugeness of his entrepreneurial brilliance, stamina and ability to murder someone and still win an election.

Manipulation: in planting negative stories about actresses who wouldn’t date him.

Remorselessness: in admitting he never expresses remorse.

Shallowness: in having no friends.

Inability to empathize: in cruelly attacking journalists, women, minorities, anyone, really, except the daughter he says he’d be attracted to.

Hyper-sexuality: in hyperventilating about reflexively sexually assaulting women.

Irresponsibility: in insisting that his problems are because the media, his opponent, the electoral system itself are unfair.

Pathological dishonesty: in … where to begin.

Paranoia: in susceptibility to conspiracy theories.

Impulsivity: in allowing any of these embarrassments to become a matter of record through Twitter, the Howard Stern Show and B-roll.

Not all psychopaths become dictators; they merely become politicians. But Trump’s anti-social behaviour is disturbingly extreme. Equally disturbing is the opportunity he has, for a con man is nothing if not an opportunist.

Trump’s opportunity is this: he will govern, if we must call it that, when, internationally, strongman authoritarianism is resurgent in Europe, Asia and Eurasia, and when, domestically, millions of Americans would seem to tolerate or welcome a dictatorial president.

Internationally, Trump is part of an authoritarian gang that includes, among others, Russia’s Vladimir Putin, Turkey’s Recep Erdogan and, increasingly, the Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte. These men – big strong men, according to themselves – are too weak to withstand critics.

They sue them, jail them, mock them, put them out of business. They’re no kinder to the rule of law or democratic institutions. They make enemies of outsiders and outsiders of people within their communities, not necessarily because they hate their victims, but because by victimizing people they look even bigger and stronger. And at least two of them, Putin and Erdogan, even share Trump’s penchant for retching neo-classical gilt all over modern structures.

These supposed lone wolves give each other cover in their mutual disdain for basic liberties. And Trump can find cover at home, too. A critical mass of Americans, large enough to win him the electoral college, is looking for a big, strong man to protect them from whoever, whatever can be blamed for their anxiety and anger: Latinos, Muslims, journalists, experts, free trade, you name it. Enough of them will stand by him, I suspect, for the same reason that many men befriend bullies and women date them: they want a fighter on their side, never imagining that one day the bruises will be their own.

American institutions may still hold Trump in check. But checks and balances can fail, and Trump has a clear shot at them. It would be absurd for a man like him not to take it.