The Caligula Candidate

 

Many people have expressed concern with the remarks that Donald Trump made in the recently released videotape, demonstrating as they do the candidate’s extreme crudity and his contempt for the humanity of women. However there is another aspect of the Don’s character readily observable in the celebrated tape that should be even more alarming. This is Trump’s complete inability to restrain his primal impulses.

Trump is clearly an aspiring dictator, and so has sometimes been compared to Adolf Hitler. However, while sharing Hitler’s national socialist method of invoking the tribal instinct to mobilize mob support for a program of unlimited government, socialistic policy, and one-man rule, Trump has a very different personal character. Until he went insane late in the war, Hitler was capable of a certain amount of intellectual focus and self-discipline. Trump, on the other hand, is completely lacking in those traits. Rather, he is a man of unlimited appetites who sees no reason to control himself, even when an appearance of such control is required to achieve his own strategic ends. Instead of Hitler, the mad Roman emperor Caligula serves as much closer historical model for the dissolute Don.

Trump’s lack of self-control, repeatedly demonstrated through such self-destructive behaviors as his late night defecations into the twitterverse, has long been an annoyance to his campaign staff, who find it objectionable because it decreases his chance of winning the election. However those whose priorities center upon the good of the nation rather than merely the good of a candidate may wish to consider the implications of Trump’s infantilism in a broader context.

The nation’s founders set a Constitutional minimum age requirement of 35 years for the office of president, because they recognized that the Chief Executive of the United States and the Commander-in-Chief of its Armed Forces needs to be a mature adult. Clearly a person who says that he cannot stop himself from spontaneously grabbing and kissing attractive women cannot be described in such terms. Indeed, he would not even qualify as an acceptable adolescent, since anyone who acted in such a manner would not meet the behavior standard required to remain enrolled in a public high school.

The human mind can be described as having three levels of operation, defined by animal lust, practical reason, and moral conscience. You see a desired object. Lust urges you to steal it, reason advises otherwise to avoid prosecution, while conscience tells you not to steal because stealing is wrong. An infant is born with only the lustful part of the mind operational, but we hope over time develops the capacity to act in accord with reason, and ultimately conscience.

An examination of Donald Trump’s life shows that he has not developed well in this respect. Rather, his entire business career has been one cheat after another, swindling his investors, his lenders, his vendors, his workers, and his customers. As a result, there are currently several thousand different lawsuits being processed against him by those he has wronged. Clearly he has no interest in acting according to moral conscience. For Trump, right and wrong are not relevant categories; only winning and losing matter. Furthermore, as demonstrated by the number of suits he has incurred, his practical reason exerts only weak influence in restraining his animal lust to take whatever he wants.

This brings us back to the subject of Caligula, the exemplar of a ruler with unconstrained appetites. According to Wikipedia,

Caligula worked to increase the unconstrained personal power of the emperor, as opposed to countervailing powers within the principate … Caligula reviewed Tiberius’s records of treason trials and decided, based on their actions during these trials, that numerous senators were not trustworthy. He ordered a new set of investigations and trials. He replaced the consul and had several senators put to death. Suetonius reports that other senators were degraded by being forced to wait on him and run beside his chariot..… Philo of Alexandria and Seneca the Younger describe Caligula as an insane emperor who was self-absorbed, angry, killed on a whim, and indulged in too much spending and sex. He is accused of sleeping with other men’s wives and bragging about it, killing for mere amusement, deliberately wasting money on his bridge, causing starvation, and wanting a statue of himself erected in the Temple of Jerusalem for his worship.

Much of the above account is startlingly reminiscent of Trump. But while in Caligula’s day the Roman Empire was completely secure against all external threats, and so his lack of restraint and desire for absolute power could only wreak serious harm on the internal soundness of the commonwealth, an infantile ruler of such character today could quickly lead the nation, and indeed human civilization, to quick and total destruction.

Say what you will, Hillary Clinton is an adult. Many of her policies are mistaken, but she is demonstrably sane. The same cannot be said about Trump.

America requires a president with a mental age over 35, not under two. Trump does not meet that criterion. Accordingly, he is unfit for office.

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  1. Kate Braestrup Member
    Kate Braestrup
    @GrannyDude

    Pseudodionysius:I’m much more interested in how the U.S. and, specifically, the Rockefeller Foundation created Hitler’s eugenics program.

    California was considered an epicenter of the American eugenics movement. During the Twentieth Century’s first decades, California’s eugenicists included potent but little known race scientists, such as Army venereal disease specialist Dr. Paul Popenoe, citrus magnate and Polytechnic benefactor Paul Gosney, Sacramento banker Charles M. Goethe, as well as members of the California State Board of Charities and Corrections and the University of California Board of Regents.

    Eugenics would have been so much bizarre parlor talk had it not been for extensive financing by corporate philanthropies, specifically the Carnegie Institution, the Rockefeller Foundation and the Harriman railroad fortune. They were all in league with some of America’s most respected scientists hailing from such prestigious universities as Stanford, Yale, Harvard, and Princeton. These academicians espoused race theory and race science, and then faked and twisted data to serve eugenics’ racist aims.

    I’m planning to include this in one of my future sermons, Pseud! For the benefit of all those who use “but…science!” as the ultimate trump-card. (Not Trump-Card, just trump-card…are we ever going to be able to use that word again?)

    • #31
  2. PHenry Inactive
    PHenry
    @PHenry

    Kate Braestrup: With all due respect to you, my dear friends, what do you think of the basic point of the OP, which is that Trump has no evident built-in checks on his lusts—not even self-interest?

    The basic point that Trump is as hedonistically unrestrained as Caligula?  Because he said some dirty things 10 years ago, or  (unproven) made poorly received advances  ?

    It just tells me that Trump has not lived his life like a politician, two faced like Hillary, always careful to keep ‘off the record’ anything not fitting the public persona.  We see Trump as he is, warts and all, and while some of those warts are unsightly, we know we see the true man.  You may find his manner crude, but I suspect it is no more crude than the average person would appear if their life were on display like this.

    I personally find it refreshing to see a real human being running, not a focus grouped parody of a person like the vast majority of candidates.  That there are those who will jump on every little politically incorrect statement made in his lifetime to discount and discredit him is not surprising, but it does not convince me he is any worse than all the others, they just are professional ‘actors’, he is not.

    Trump has a poor filter.  Hillary has a comprehensive filter.   Hillary is the documented liar and very good at it, while Trump is just too honest for politics?

    • #32
  3. DocJay Inactive
    DocJay
    @DocJay

    Bedtime stories at the Zubrin household ,”well Timmy that’s when massa Trump whipped a little black slave girl to death and had sex with her in front of her mom while he laughed evilly.  Now night night Timmy “

    • #33
  4. Larry3435 Inactive
    Larry3435
    @Larry3435

    All of the substance of the OP can be found in this one paragraph:

    An examination of Donald Trump’s life shows that he has not developed well in this respect. Rather, his entire business career has been one cheat after another, swindling his investors, his lenders, his vendors, his workers, and his customers. As a result, there are currently several thousand different lawsuits being processed against him by those he has wronged. Clearly he has no interest in acting according to moral conscience. For Trump, right and wrong are not relevant categories; only winning and losing matter. Furthermore, as demonstrated by the number of suits he has incurred, his practical reason exerts only weak influence in restraining his animal lust to take whatever he wants.

    The comparisons to Hitler and Caligula do not add to the point; they detract.  But the point is still spot on.  I have frequently wondered why, after a decade or so of Trump regularly swindling his investors, contractors, employees, and customers, anyone would still do business with him.  You’ve got to give him credit for that.  He is one hell of a con man.  He manages to keep pulling the same con, even when the mark must know his history.  It sort of explains how he has managed to con 40% of the electorate.  But only “sort of explains.”  Even now, I still don’t get it.

    • #34
  5. livingthehighlife Inactive
    livingthehighlife
    @livingthehighlife

    This is an embarrassment to the Main Feed.

    • #35
  6. Pseudodionysius Inactive
    Pseudodionysius
    @Pseudodionysius

    Its too bad there’s no even handed biography by a Pulitzer Prize winner to get to the bottom of this.

    trump-revealed-marc-fisher

    • #36
  7. Mark Coolidge
    Mark
    @GumbyMark

    Oh, I get it.  He’s not saying Trump is as bad as Hitler . . . he’s saying he’s worse than Hitler.

    I’m not a Trump supporter but this OP is simply ridiculous.

     

    • #37
  8. DocJay Inactive
    DocJay
    @DocJay

    “Timmy here’s the one where Massa Trump gives small pox infected blankets to the Indian village. “

    • #38
  9. The Question Inactive
    The Question
    @TheQuestion

    Quite frankly, when I watched Trump in the GOP debates, I thought he seemed very much like a child in a man’s body.  When Hugh Hewitt asked Trump about his tax returns, and Trump replied by mocking Hewitt’s radio show, it seemed to me like something a petulant child would say.  I thought he would eventually lose in the primaries because voters wouldn’t let someone this immature be president, but they did.  What Robert Zubrin noticed about the Access Hollywood video also occurred to me.  Trump has very little self-control.

    I can understand someone liking what Trump says on immigration, terrorism, etc.  What I don’t understand is why anyone would think Trump is someone who can be relied upon.  I don’t see any way that Trump is capable of being a decent president.  I think Hillary is capable of being a decent president, but she won’t be a decent president because she is a criminal.  I understand the value of Trump as a body that takes up space that might otherwise be occupied by Hillary.  That may be enough justification to vote for Trump.  I’m really not sure.  When I vote it’ll just be a guess.

    • #39
  10. Matt White Member
    Matt White
    @

    The worst of the Trump vs. Never Trump on the member feed is not as bad as this garbage. Why is an author of such a terrible demagogic trolling post a contributor?

    You sell this as a place where we can have a civil conversation, then promote filfth worse than the NR comment section to the main feed.  It’s not a surprise. He’s done this before and you keep him as a contributor.

    • #40
  11. Eugene Kriegsmann Member
    Eugene Kriegsmann
    @EugeneKriegsmann

    I detest Trump on many grounds, however, as a student of the history of ancient Rome, I find the comparison to Caligula a bit over the top. If the historians are to be believed, Caligula was a psychopath or, at least, a sociopath. According to Robert Graves interpretation, Caligula aided in the murder of his father and slept with his sister long before he became emperor following the death of Tiberius. He was clearly nuts! Trump, on the other hand, is simply an egocentric, narcissistic, lout with a mediocre intelligence who is better suited to be a television personality than a businessman or politician.  Unquestionably, he has certain characteristics found in the definition of Conduct Disorder in the DSM, but certainly not enough to be so categorized. The predominant one which he shares with Hillary Clinton, and, indeed, a majority of politicians, is mendaciousness. This, however, is not his worst characteristic. That I believe is his intellectual laziness. He possesses only the most superficial knowledge of issues, just enough to convince those desperate for a real change that he has the answer to their quest. He is, instead, an empty suit, or, as Clint Eastwood satirized Obama, an empty chair. He is neither Hitler nor Caligula, he simply isn’t capable of achieving what either of them did.

    • #41
  12. Doug Kimball Thatcher
    Doug Kimball
    @DougKimball

    Trump is no Boy Scout.  Like the progeny of many very wealthy men, he shares a lack of humility and a certain arrogance, but to say that a comparison to Hitler presents too high a bar, we must look to the perversions of Caligula to find an historical leader flawed enough to represent a valid comparison, that is an AMAZING feat of hyperbole.  That makes anything written by the hysterical left seem utterly milquetoast.  If you meant to generate outrage, you missed.  The only point made here is, really?  Do you really believe this?

    If you want your writing to be taken seriously, you will have to come up with something much better than this.  Being the mere provocateur is cheap, ugly stuff, a cry of wolf.  It may make you popular with some, but at what cost?  The insult ricochets directly back at you.

     

    • #42
  13. Kate Braestrup Member
    Kate Braestrup
    @GrannyDude

    PHenry: Trump has a poor filter. Hillary has a comprehensive filter. Hillary is the documented liar and very good at it, while Trump is just too honest for politics?

    Right. Which is worse?

    Though I’m not sure I buy the notion that anyone would appear just as awful as Trump were his/her dirty laundry to be publicly aired. This was always the excuse that Bill’s supporters offered. “They all do it” is both untrue and a calumny against, especially, men.

    Even if all we’re talking about is Bill Clinton-style piggishness, not only does Trump strongly resemble Bill in this respect, Bill and Donald seem to have done at least some of their piggery in the same sty.

    Also, given that Donald claims not to have “had sex with that woman” about some credible accusers…is he really “too honest for politics?”

    Hillary has “misguided policies” and Donald “has made politically incorrect comments.” Ummm…

    Hillary has some dreadful policies and,more to the point, is personally corrupt. The Donald is a boor, a cad, a masher and possibly a rapist. There is nothing honest or honorable about either of them. Which brings me back to…

    My enthusiastic support for Blank.

    • #43
  14. Kate Braestrup Member
    Kate Braestrup
    @GrannyDude

    I need a yard sign.

    BLANK for President.

    • #44
  15. PHenry Inactive
    PHenry
    @PHenry

    Kate Braestrup: and possibly a rapist

    Really?  Who claims rape?  Or are we calling accusations of improper touching rape?

     

    • #45
  16. Douglas Inactive
    Douglas
    @Douglas

    TKC1101:Oh, seriously? Trump is Hitler is so very past it’s sell by date. Caligula? Do we now have a horse made contributor to leave things on the main feed in our future?

    Clearly Zubrin is a cis-het Eurocentric male. All his villain archetypes are European. Why no comparisons to Genghis Khan or Pol Pot? Where’s the “Trump is Saddam Hussein!” accusations. But nooooooo. Nothing but white heterosexual European villains. I’m offended at his insensitive lack of villain diversity to compare Trump to. I demand the editors at Ricochet institute a Trump-Villain diversity quota at once!

    • #46
  17. Matt Upton Inactive
    Matt Upton
    @MattUpton

    Mark:Oh, I get it. He’s not saying Trump is as bad as Hitler . . . he’s saying he’s worse than Hitler.

    I’m not a Trump supporter but this OP is simply ridiculous.

    That was my thought through the second graf. One of my own primary criticisms of Trump is his lack of discipline, but knowing Ricochet (and having some good taste) I found full form dive into Godwin’s law a poor conversation starter.

    It may get a lot of comments, but we’ll mostly be having this meta-conversation.

    • #47
  18. Tom Meyer Member
    Tom Meyer
    @tommeyer

    Larry3435: The comparisons to Hitler and Caligula do not add to the point; they detract. But the point is still spot on.

    That was my thinking as well.

    Trump clearly has — among other things — a serious problem with impulse control. That hardly makes him Caligula or worse than Hitler in the only way the caparison is offered.

    • #48
  19. thelonious Member
    thelonious
    @thelonious

    If we’re going evil dictator comps.  I’ll go cross racial and say Trump reminds me more of Idi Amin.  Just a big boorish incompetent lout.

    • #49
  20. skipsul Inactive
    skipsul
    @skipsul

    Larry3435: I have frequently wondered why, after a decade or so of Trump regularly swindling his investors, contractors, employees, and customers, anyone would still do business with him.

    If he was as bad as all that, no one would.  He would be avoided like the plague.

    That so many still do business with him, work for him, sell to him, or contract with him, though, means that they are actually doing well enough by the deals for it to be worth it to stay in.

    It is a general rule in business that the vast majority of complaints are generated by just a few people.  You rarely here from the satisfied customers, but you never stop hearing from the aggrieved.

    • #50
  21. Mark Coolidge
    Mark
    @GumbyMark

    Tom Meyer, Ed.:

    Larry3435: The comparisons to Hitler and Caligula do not add to the point; they detract. But the point is still spot on.

    That was my thinking as well.

    Yes, but that point has been made many times before in many posts.  Nothing new there whether you agree or disagree.  What’s different here is the invocation of Mr Hitler and Young Master Caligula.  He wanted to get our attention.  He did, because it is so incredibly over the top and, more than that, thoughtless.

    • #51
  22. Eugene Kriegsmann Member
    Eugene Kriegsmann
    @EugeneKriegsmann

    PHenry: Trump has a poor filter. Hillary has a comprehensive filter. Hillary is the documented liar and very good at it, while Trump is just too honest for politics?

    What standard of honesty do you expect of your politicians if Trump is too honest? If you define honesty as a complete lack of tact or decency, then he certainly fits the bill. Trump is incredibly dishonest, even by the usual expectations of politicians. That he lacks a filter on his thoughts is not a sign of honesty, but rather a complete lack of couth.

    I have no problem with your choosing to vote for him in preference to Hillary with whom he shares a common unfamiliarity with truthfulness, but, please, to don’t tell me that he is too honest to be a politician. That stretches the bounds of credibility even beyond the comparisons of Trump to Caligula and Hitler.

    • #52
  23. Doctor Robert Member
    Doctor Robert
    @DoctorRobert

    We have the Godwin rule, whoever compares to Hitler gets intellectually disqualified.

    I think that should apply here.

    We can debate Mr Trump’s merits in any number of ways but I must object to this article.

    • #53
  24. PHenry Inactive
    PHenry
    @PHenry

    Kate Braestrup: Though I’m not sure I buy the notion that anyone would appear just as awful as Trump were his/her dirty laundry to be publicly aired. This was always the excuse that Bill’s supporters offered. “They all do it” is both untrue and a calumny against, especially, men.

    There is a fundamental difference between saying ‘all ( or most) men have made crude sexual comments to other men’ and saying ‘all ( or most) men boff the interns (Lewinsky), or are accused of outright rape’ (Brodderick)…

    • #54
  25. Trinity Waters Member
    Trinity Waters
    @

    Jamie Lockett:Criticism of a candidate is not a personal attack. Criticizing a candidate is not an attack on his supporters. Mr Zubrin may be wrong and over wrought but he’s not doing anything outside the CoC. Some of you should practice what you preach and attack the idea and not the man.

    Even if you maintain that he’s within the vaunted CoC, it’s still a substandard barrel of swill not worthy of the main page, certainly.

    • #55
  26. Matthew Gilley Inactive
    Matthew Gilley
    @MatthewGilley

    Hmm. Trump always reminds me more of Russ Hanneman. (Non-COC material in the link.)

    • #56
  27. PHenry Inactive
    PHenry
    @PHenry

    Eugene Kriegsmann: What standard of honesty do you expect of your politicians if Trump is too honest?

    Lack of filter = honest.  The point was Trump lacks a filter, Hillary does not.  That somehow makes Hillary preferable?  I’m not saying Trump is a paragon of honesty, just that the fact that he does not hide his faults as well as a professional politician is not to me a proof he is somehow unqualified to run for office.

    And by the way , my statement that

    PHenry: Hillary is the documented liar and very good at it, while Trump is just too honest for politics?

    was meant as sarcasm.

    • #57
  28. EDISONPARKS Member
    EDISONPARKS
    @user_54742

    I am more than willing to go along with Trump as an unserious dufus clown, huuuge mistake,  please make my Trump nightmare go way asap….however…..I think trying to make Trump into Hitler (and now Caligula?) is giving an unserious dufus clown reality television D list “star”(okay maybe a C+?) way too much gravitas.

    BTW: To the Pro Trumps, I am a NeverHillary(I’m in Chicago so my vote only symbolic)…….I sincerely believe Hillary is worse than Trump.

    • #58
  29. Jamie Lockett Member
    Jamie Lockett
    @JamieLockett

    skipsul: If he was as bad as all that, no one would. He would be avoided like the plague.

    No US Bank will lend to him anymore – so there’s that.

    • #59
  30. Tom Meyer Member
    Tom Meyer
    @tommeyer

    PHenry: Lack of filter = honest.

    That’s not necessarily true. Having a filter also means that you can catch yourself before telling a lie that you know will work.

    • #60
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