I don't know why you're getting down voted for this. It's a very precise description of what has been happening the last decade. Conform and declare your support or be ruined, even if you have valid criticisms and disagreements with the doctrine.

I would assume it’s precisely because it’s a precise and accurate description. Given the current climate.

> Authoritarianism would be if it was top down.

If a minority can impose their will into institutions, destroying the life of anybody that opposes them, you need a quite messed-up conception of power structures to place that minority "down".

When said minority are just as likely to be peers or subordinates within the power structure, I don’t see how it could be ‘from the top’. Do you?

Because you can't put the power to influence behavior on a straight line.

Each clique has it's own power structure.

Charisma, rule of law, pity, revenge, resentment, morality, resources, it's all a part of it.