There are the classic autocracies that we know well - like China and Russia - but what would it take to morph a democracy like the United States into an authoritarian country?

It’s a question that’s not so far-fetched for the States, a month out from its presidential election, and it’s one that Pulitzter prize winning journalist David E. Sanger has been grappling with.

So with a second Donald Trump presidency looming large, what are the chances that Trump could turn the United States into an autocracy, or something close to it?

Today, Sanger, the national security correspondent for The New York Times, on what he has learned about autocrats in his more than 40 years of reporting.

Further reading:

• David E. Sanger's 'New Cold Wars'.

Audio credit:

• President Clinton's China visit, AAP
• Donald Trump: 'We need a military operation' to stop border cartels, News Nation