Reddit reviews Authoritarianism and Polarization in American Politics

FWIW, since the 90s the GOP has become more and more a haven for people who score high on authoritarianism. That is partly why (probably mainly why) the GOP gets more and more insane.

People high on authoritarianism keep leaving the democrats and becoming republican. People low on authoritarianism keep leaving the republicans and becoming democrats.

People who score high on authoritarianism also tend to be dogmatic, aggressive, intolerant, irrational, and oppressive.

https://www.amazon.com/Authoritarianism-Polarization-American-Politics-Hetherington/dp/052171124X

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/monkey-cage/wp/2017/05/10/how-authoritarianism-is-shaping-american-politics-and-its-not-just-about-trump/?utm_term=.6df3096aa889

Studies like this one Politico published have shown that Trump supporters share views that align with traditional authoritarian views: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/donald-trump-2016-authoritarian-213533

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There are a few books and studies that show a correlation between conservative viewpoints and authoritarian viewpoints. This one from Hetherington and Weiler is one of them: https://www.amazon.com/Authoritarianism-Polarization-American-Politics-Hetherington/dp/052171124X In short, American conservatives and authoritarians both value obedience, an adherence to traditional norms in behavior and speech, as well as deference to elders and positions of power. American Democrats, obviously, have a strain of this but are far more likely to value individuality and personal choices at this point.

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I don't, unfortunately, have time to pull psychology studies on the issue (psychology is mostly my area of expertise). These were google searches of existing knowledge, and hopefully acceptable to this sub. If y'all have to pull this post down I'll understand - still new to this.

I know what you're referring to, but that's not what I meant. This Reason article sums it up nicely, and this book by Marc Hetherington also address this, from a time well before Trump and this idea that only R's are that way.

From my own personal experience with liberal or conservative friends, there are some on both sides who like this tough approach. It does tend to be more obvious on the Right, but that's more due to age I think. It seems most younger people of any political affiliation - in my experience - tend to reject authoritarianism. YMMV of course

Gotta step in here, as I'm currently writing a quantitative article on authoritarianism in this election. Altemeyers work is super outdated. His measurement schemes actually conflate authoritarianism and conservatism. You should check out Stanley Felman, Karen Stenner, Marc Hetherington and Johnathan Weiler's updated work on this topic. It's got some differences to Altemeyer and some similarities. They conceptualize authoritarianism as having two components that must interact: a personality predisposition that favors conformity over autonomy and a perceived threat. When those two things are both present, people start acting authoritarian, which DOES often manifest itself in wanting to punish others, specifically people who caused the perceived threat (often minorities, people who break norms, people who disrupt the social order). Super interesting!
https://www.amazon.com/Authoritarianism-Polarization-American-Politics-Hetherington/dp/052171124X

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by 'political books' but I'm going to assume that you're looking for books that help explain the current political situation and current events. Maybe I'm wrong.

Fiasco and the follow up by Thomas Ricks The Gamble. These are fantastic books that put the Iraq war in perspective.

Looming Tower. A great book about the lead-up to 9/11.

For stuff about torture and Bush's policies therein I'd start with Dark Side but Torture Team is better, just more legalistic and possibly drier.

For understanding the politics right now I think it's really good to know about authoritarianism. It's completely changed how I've viewed politics. This is a new book on the subject that I have on my shelf but haven't gotten around to reading.

If this is the type of stuff you're looking for, I'm happy to provide other recommendations, but I think that's a good place to start.

EDIT: formatting

Sorry for my heated reaction.
There was a Study published in 2009 showing what Authoritarian characteristics look like and what political stances they're likely to take.
Trump is the crystallization of their findings.
Here is a 538 article about the book. But the Vox article is vast and much more in depth.
The authoritarian stars aligned and we got Trump.