Sowers: Breaking down Trump’s latest overboast

But there is also a counterstory. It starts with this saying: 'Most great men were bad men.' ... Most great men were bad men because they got a lot of people killed and destroyed cities, as they 'took over' the lands that were not theirs.”

Arthur E. Sowers is a resident of Harbeson.

Numerous articles came out in early May with titles something like this: “Trump is calling himself ‘the most powerful person to ever live’ in private conversations, allies say.” That particular title was on a detailed article from a U.K. website. Any internet search will easily find more of these articles and where the story came from.

The various articles all said Donald Trump claimed to be “above” historical figures like Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great and Napoleon Bonaparte. And the articles said he even estimated himself to be above George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. And Trump took the credit for all this because of his special strength and forcefulness or power.

There are three funny things about Trump’s boast. First, he conveniently leaves out the fact that he, Trump, would be “nothing” if the U.S. were not already world-dominant in both military power and economic power. In other words, the U.S. was and still is “great.” It does not have to be “made great again” since it was already great before Trump came into the picture. And the U.S. got to that point after a lot of work over many prior decades. Second, Trump left out some important historical details. which I will cover farther down. And, third, I will claim that Trump is unwisely counting his chickens before they hatch.

Why was Alexander (356-323 B.C.) called “great”? Because he never lost a battle. And his empire grew quickly over a large area. And he spread Greek culture — which was admired by everyone — throughout his empire. And sources say that, after Alexander, guys like Caesar (100-44 B.C.) and Napoleon (1769-1821 A.D.) tried to emulate him.

But there is also a counterstory. It starts with this saying: “Most great men were bad men.” An internet search on that phrase will give you a lot of historical details. Most great men were bad men because they got a lot of people killed and destroyed cities, as they “took over” the lands that were not theirs. Internet resources gave me the estimate that Alexander, Caesar and Napoleon caused the estimated deaths of 8 million to 12 million people.

In addition, just at his peak, Caesar was assassinated. As far as Alexander is concerned, he died at a very young age, and after that, his empire collapsed just as fast as it grew. And Napoleon’s many wars, and all his efforts to form an empire, also ultimately ended in failure. Napoleon died in exile and infamy on an island. Moreover, this Newsweek article (dated 2019) shows that the occupation of Roman emperor, in general, was pretty dangerous: “Most of Ancient Rome’s Emperors Suffered Violent Deaths at the Start of Their Reign.” I view all these endings as bad endings. Why would Trump brag about himself being on a path like these other three guys were on, which ends in tragedy?

And why was Caesar assassinated? It was because the Roman senators feared that Caesar would make himself absolute king for life, and that would diminish the power of the senators.

In thinking about Trump’s dream of a Trump version of the Roman Empire, with himself as “emperor,” it occurred to me to ask Google’s artificial intelligence some questions. The Roman Empire had emperors with a range in quality from better down to terrible. My reference for bad was Nero. Here goes:

1. “Compare Trump to Nero.” The AI response gave three paragraphs of narrative that said there were many similarities.
2. “Were Roman citizens happy with Nero?” I summarize the AI response as: Just like for Trump’s Trump-lovers and “MAGAs,” Nero was popular with the populist masses because of the populist-quality entertainment he provided just for populist-quality brains. But the populist masses never “saw” Nero’s scandalous behavior, tyrannical executions and economic strain (devaluation of currency). But Nero had a great fall. The AI said he committed forced suicide in 68 A.D. (there was a revolt against him).
3. “In the Roman Empire did the underlings benefit as much as the overlings?” The AI’s first sentence said no. The second sentence read that “the vast majority of the empire’s wealth and power was heavily concentrated in the hands of a tiny elite at the top.” (Are you surprised? In today’s U.S., the statistics say the upper 1% own as much as all of the bottom 90% combined.)
4. “Was Rome better or worse after Nero era?” I quote the first sentence of the AI summary: “Rome was worse in the immediate aftermath as Nero’s death triggered a brutal civil war.” And the last sentence in the summary was “Nero permanently damaged Rome’s long-term economy by severely devaluing the currency to fund his lavish lifestyle and building projects.”
5. The keyword string of “Nero and corruption in Rome.” I quote the first two sentences in the AI response: “Emperor Nero’s reign (54-68 AD) was marked by unprecedented imperial overreach, financial extortion, and political corruption. His misrule — defined by the seizure of private estates to fund lavish projects, the judicial murder of rivals, and heavy taxation — eventually provoked a military revolt and his forced suicide.”

OK, one last thing: If you are old enough, and your memory is good enough, you can think about how our wars in Vietnam and Afghanistan turned out (we lost, big time). If you are not old enough, or your memory is a little weak, then do internet searches or put into an AI these keyword strings: a.) “American arrogance Vietnam”; b.) “American arrogance Afghanistan”; c.) “Nazi Germany arrogance”; and, finally, d.) “Trump arrogance.” Trump 2.0 is taking this country on a self-destructive path.

Reader reactions, pro or con, are welcomed at civiltalk@iniusa.org.