American Caesar

Trump without checks and balances

"They're goin' wild, baby
They got all kinds of fuckin' stuff
They got everything you could imagine
They're so god dammed spoiled
They're poisoned inside."
— Iggy Pop, from the album American Caesar

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As frightening as it is to live in the era of the so-called strongmen, there is at least some perverse comfort in thinking these tinpot rulers actually have a plan.

When Donald Trump called Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen on January 15 and demanded that she turn over Greenland to the United States, political observers were convinced that Trump was staking out turf in a new era of geopolitics.

The exchange between Trump and Frederiksen was so over the top and menacing that there had to be some kind of larger strategic objective.

Right?

Steve Bannon jumped in on the Greenland issue - along with Trump’s equally bizarre threats against Canada. He claimed Trump was concerned about our vulnerability to the Chinese and the Russians in the Arctic. Great leader Trump had a vision.

Bannon gave it the full Art of the Deal grifter pitch:

"Trump is a master deal maker….[and the annexation plan has] compelling logic."

Turns out Trump got the idea of taking control of Greenland from cosmetics mogul Ronald Lauder. This revelation comes from the book The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021, by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser.

A billionaire mascara mogul suggested that it would be a cakewalk for the United States to take control of Greenland. Trump was hooked. After the meeting, he called John Bolton and said,

"A friend of mine, a really, really experienced businessman, thinks we can get Greenland."

Trump then posted on social media that people in Greenland wanted him to take them over:

"I am hearing that the people of Greenland are 'MAGA’," he claimed.

On January 7, as the Palisades Park neighbourhood of California was burning to the ground, Trump's main priority was intimidating a sparsely populated Arctic region.

He sent Donald Jr. on a big-assed jet adorned with the name TRUMP to land in Greenland. There was no bigger geo-political plan at all.

It was all ego.

All while California burned.

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The Roman Fixation

Welcome to the age of the American Caesar.

The United States has always had a very bizarre fascination with the Roman Empire. The Founding Fathers didn't look to early Athenian democracy for a role model but to the much more brutal Roman version. They played up Cicero and Cincinnatus (whom the city of Cincinnati is named after) as models of civic virtue.

But we all know how dismal Rome was at resisting tyranny. The Republic gave way to the Caesars.

And so here we are.

The American right loves the idea of a Republican strongman, which is why they pushed to strip any limits on presidential power. They imagined Trump stepping up like Caesar Augustus or Tiberius. They forgot about what came next – Caligula. Nero. Commodus.

Trump skipped the pretence and went straight to Nero.

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When the Emperor Has No Plan

Indeed, the image of Nero playing his fiddle while Rome burned became the perfect symbol for an out-of-touch narcissist who went off to golf after plunging the world economy into chaos.

It has been just one week since Trump's announcement that the day of economic liberation was at hand. The economic fallout was so severe, he was forced to backtrack.

Once again, he blinked.

Now he’s trying to claim victory, bragging that world leaders are anxious to "kiss my ass." His minions have tried to frame it as another example of high-level strategic thinking, the "art of the deal," stuff that will pay dividends.

CNN wasn't buying it.

"There is no plan," they boldly proclaimed.

Then, they went on to make clear what it means to live in the age of the American Caesar:

"America and the world just learned the scariest lesson about Donald Trump's second term…The fate of the US economy, the jobs and retirement savings of millions of people, and global security are liable at any moment over the next four years to be thrown into turmoil by the volatile moods and untested obsessions of the 47th president."

Once again, it begs the question:

How can one man cause such damage without anyone holding him in check?

The only reason there can be an American Caesar is the moral cowardice and complicity of the American power structure.

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What Comes After Nero?

So consider this: if Trump can threaten to take over a country because a mascara billionaire told him it was a good idea - or cause unprecedented economic havoc on a whim - what happens if there is a serious showdown with China or Russia?

The damage to America's relations with the world may be unrepairable.

French Senator Claude Malhueret stated the obvious:

"Trump's message is that being his ally serves no purpose, because he will not defend you."

He then went on to point out that:

"Washington has become Nero's court, with an incendiary emperor, submissive courtiers and a buffoon on ketamine [Elon Musk] in charge of purging the civil service."

Once again, the comparison to Nero.

But I keep thinking of Commodus, made famous in the movie Gladiator.

"Even from his earliest years, he was base and dishonorable, cruel and lewd, defiled of mouth, moreover, and debauched."— Aelius Lampridius, on Emperor Commodus

The real-life Commodus, with his narcissism, cruelty, immaturity and capricious nature, could also serve as a perfect comparison for the criminal from Mar-a-Lago.

Nero and Commodus both bragged about restoring the glory of Rome.

They were the original Make the Empire Great Again sloganeers.

It didn't end well for them or for the empire. And it won't end well for the new American Caesar.

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