I think you misunderstand the method of imposing the hardship. The police will be better paid and there to impose the planned hardship on the ordinary people, including many of the people who always vote for him.

It’s honestly rather strange and depressing watching the US from the outside. I have rarely seen the most downtrodden segment of the population being so gung ho about the worst parts of the system that’s been oppressing them their whole lives. It’s amazing to me to see so many super patriotic black people for example. How? For what? Why would you blindly defend the same structures that’ve been oppressing you for centuries? It’d be less depressing and more funny if it wasn’t for the massive destructive power these people get access to when they win, power that they subsequently unleash on the rest of the world.