It's a long-running bit of US propaganda dating back to the cold war where they strategically framed it as "democracy" vs communism. Every one of the US' enemies are derided with terms like "authoritarian" and their leaders are all "madmen". Russia, China, DPRK, Iraq, Libya, Venezuela, the list goes on. If this country is in such dire straits and the leader(s) so unreasonable, US humanitarian military invasions are warranted.