Why do some autocratic rulers broadcast attacks on exiled rivals while others do not? This study argues that the existing scholarship on the politics of authoritarian survival is poorly suited to answer this question because of its exclusive domestic focus. It proposes that the power struggle between authoritarian rulers and the powerful elites who enable their rule does not end if this relationship turns sour, and powerful elites are pushed into exile. The struggle, instead, intensifies and often crosses borders. Authoritarian rulers seek to prevent their former allies from mobilizing against them from the safety of second or third countries abroad. This study examines this contest through the extraterritorial campaign of Rwandan President Paul Kagame, an authoritarian ruler who unlike many of his contemporaries in China, Russia, and North Korea, publicly acknowledges violent attacks – including assassinations abroad – of exiled rivals for all to see. The study proposes that while Kagame’s public flaunting of attacks on exiled rivals is designed to project an image of uncontested control, these public spectacles instead reveal an uncertain fragility of the regime.