Trump’s Caesarean Socialism: From Donatives to Dollars

Trump’s Socialism: Bribing voters with their own money

“In the context of ancient Rome, a donative was an irregular, large-scale cash bonus paid by Roman emperors directly to their soldiers, most notably to the elite Praetorian Guard. Originally a generous token of gratitude, it gradually evolved into a mandatory form of institutionalized bribery and political extortion that altered the course of Roman history. The practice took a drastic turn after the assassination of Caligula. The Praetorian Guard found Claudius hiding behind a palace curtain and declared him emperor. Realizing his throne depended entirely on their swords, Claudius paid each guard a massive 15,000 sesterces. From that moment on, a substantial donative became an absolute requirement for any new emperor. 
Tiberius gave the guards a bonus for not defending their own commander, Sejanus, enabling Tiberius to execute Sejanus for treason. The eventual consequence of this system occurred in 193 AD, the Year of the Five Emperors, when the Praetorian Guard assassinated Emperor Pertinax because he tried to enforce military discipline and offered too small a donative.  The Guard then climbed onto the palace walls and put the Roman Empire up for auction to the highest bidder.  A wealthy senator [is there any other kind?] named Didius Julianus won the auction by promising to pay each soldier an astronomical 25,000 sesterces. This degree of such blatant corruption outraged the public and the provincial legions, sparking a massive civil war that ruined Julianus within 66 days.
By the 3rd century AD, during the “Crisis of the Third Century“: the Roman economy collapsed under the weight of the donativum. “Soldier-emperors” were constantly being set up and torn down by rival armies. To pay the required bonuses, emperors repeatedly devalued the Roman currency, melting down silver coins and mixing them with worthless bronze.” (wikipedia)
Sound familiar? 
It gets better! 
Trump’s desperate effort to counter dismal poll numbers (approaching the bottom of the Marianas Trench) securing political power by appealing to the electorate’s hedonism continues today. Just as in ancient Rome, the U.S. government and Administrations of both Political Parties continue: 
  • The Senate majority – the alleged “deliberative body” of the Constitution – continues rubber stamping the whims of their Party Leader (much like the Parties of his “Great Friends” Communist North Korean leader Kim Il Sung, Russian Communist dictator and internationally convicted mass murderer Vladimir Putin, and his best business partner Communist Chinese leader Xi.  Trump is the first American president in history to have as his closest friends – only Communist dictators. 

It seems Trump’s base has dwindled to the myopic MAGA, his mewling, sychophantic staff  & Cabinet members; his communist cabal of dictators and his retinue of pardoned fraudsters, embezzlers and drug cartel captains.

Much like latter Caesars’  base depended on the barbarian hordes from the North.

And yet, Trump threatens to remove Castro from Cuba. That’s sociopathic projection on a massive scale.

Trump believes there’s room in the Western Hemisphere for only one dictator who can siphon off its’ natural resources and wealth.

The wealth of-the Roman empire depended on foreign conquests and taxing (Tariffs) their oppressed neighbors. 

When Rome’s neighbors threw off the yoke of “tribute” (tariffs) the empire couldn’t continue paying its citizenry for political, economic or social loyalty. Trump’s promised “Great!” tariff windfall for every American due to his arbitrary abuse of constitutional authority was doomed by a clear-thinking U.S. Supreme Court. 

As in Rome, America’s inflation skyrocketed, the oligarchy continues  grabbing up the resources depriving the masses of the means to maintain their expected standard of living. 

As in Rome, America’s, political corruption runs amuck, the Treasury coffers empty, Caesar creates fake currency, and social entropy increases exponentially. 

In ancient Rome, the resulting societal chaos resulted in civil war and the dissolution of the Republic.

Trump has never been a conservative. Neither has most of the GOP.  Neither Trump’s nor New York City’s  DNA has ever been conservative or patriotic in general.

  • – The Federalist Papers were written to counter the New York Times and NYC mayor’s ad campaign discouraging the colonies from ratifying the new constitution.
  • Despite several brave New York battalions raised during the Civil War, NYC experienced several anti-draft riots by thousands of protestors. The richest men in NYC committed the most heinous fraud against the federal government’s war efforts.
  • During WW II union dock workers held the government’s war supplies hostage until usurious labor rates were granted.

There’s a difference between Goldwater (R) and Proxmire (D) “conservative” principles and today’s  GOP (Chamber of Commerce/ corrupt capitalism) and DNC (DSA) corruption of capitalism (see: David a. Stockman, The Great Deformation: The Corruption of Capitalism in America, 2013)

Real economic conservatism is called Free Enterprise – the principles of Bastiat and Hayek.

True conservative principles cannot be separated from Christian principles any more than the laws of physics can be separated from the ordered nature of the universe.

And yet politicians and their Party acolytes continue trying – to their eventual destruction.

Just like Rome.

“What is past is Prologue” – Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act 2, Scene 1. (inscribed on the base of the statue at the northeast corner of the National Archives Building, Washington, D.C. 

“A great man can be good provided that, while exercising power, he fulfills two conditions. First, he must deny himself all the personal advantages of power. Second, he must realize that the accident of possessing temporal power does not give him Spiritual authority.
A society in which the boss is mad enough to believe he is a prophet is doomed to destruction.” – Aldous Huxley, The Perennial Philosopher, 1944; p 124.

About Mike

Former Vietnam Marine; Retired Green Beret Captain; Retired Immigration Inspector / CBP Officer; Author "10 Years on the Line: My War on the Border," and "Collectanea of Conservative Concepts, Vols 1-3";
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