Angiogenesis = building the loyal infrastructure. A tumor can't grow past ~2mm without its own blood vessels. A movement can't grow past a point without its own media, funding, and patronage. Same constraint, same solution.

Immune evasion = disabling press, courts, civil society. Cancer doesn't beat the immune system by being stronger — it says "stand down." The strongman says "fake news, don't believe your own eyes." The disease wins by ordering the defense to sleep.

Loss of apoptosis = loss of accountability. Healthy cells self-destruct when damaged. A society's apoptosis is the election, the resignation, the norm of stepping down. A movement's first job is to disable that self-destruct.

The oncogene = the promise of growth. Cancer is locked in a permanent growth signal. The strongman hands followers the growth program: "work for me, get money and power." Every follower he elevates is a new cell expressing the same oncogene.

The first mutation = the first exception. A cell gets one mutation to ignore a "stop" signal; a figure gets one grant of power to ignore a norm. Neither is a problem yet. The disease is a process, not an event. #politics #democracy

Cancer and the Strongman — one pattern, two scales. How a cell and a movement grow the same way. #politics #democracy