This is how it goes: With or without evidence (in this case, without), the dictator declares that escalating crime and disorder threaten public safety in the capital. Such rapidly deteriorating conditions require prompt and decisive action. On this pretext, he federalizes the capital’s local police force, brings in armed troops, and declares that he will take similar actions in other cities and regions, as necessary.
In the guise of preserving public order, he directs local officials to repeal laws that he does not like and to enact stiffer penalties for law breakers. Those local officials who protest or delay are removed from office, and citizens who dissent are dispersed through state-sanctioned violence.
Other institutions of the federal government fall into line, leaving no counterweights to the authority of the dictator and his subordinates. Members of the public are rounded up–initially as potential “illegal” aliens, but later as simply disloyal threats to public order. “Deviants” are identified and punished. Despite so-called constitutional protections, the dictator threatens to expel citizens who are insufficiently loyal.
Soon, the residents of the capital and other cities get used to seeing troops on their street corners, and stop remarking on, or even noticing, the sounds of mysterious low-flying helicopters surveilling their cities at night. Elections are suspended as too perilous in light of the ongoing public emergencies. Protests turn into whispered grumbles, and resignation descends upon the resentful but cowed citizens.