they are dictators. most of the world sees them as dictators.
whether or not that justifies military action is another question, but they are certainly not freely elected representatives, anymore than Putin is. And the countries that do recognize the legitimacy of their elections… are also dictatorships.
i most see then angry he’s not a far left communist and only a ‘mere’ social democrat.
some things are more do-able than others. Free buses is easy. bringing down rents, not so much.
they can’t directly. but indirectly they can have local tools to reduce costs. foremost is to increase supply. other ways would be tax credits/abatements, city-sponsored clinics, etc.
they can’t solve it, but they can reduce costs. the problem, however, is often such programs are politically very unpopular and the voters tend to get bent out of shape over their ‘unfairness’.
the democrats would never run anyone who had the balls to do that. it would be too ‘mean’.
but if such a candidate did get to run, they’d probably be incredibly popular.