"Mock authoritarians — they fear ridicule Obama argued that the appropriate response to demagogues is humor, not fear. He recommended mocking them because "strongmen want to be feared, not laughed at, so by mocking them you make them seem weak." Treating dangerous actors as objects of ridicule disrupts the authority narrative they depend on. Ridicule is both emotionally cheaper and strategically more effective than outrage. Source: Barack Obama, Pod Save America, Obama Returns — Midterm Strategy"