Character
And Consequence
Nero absolutely was not in Rome when the city burned in 64 AD. Trump mostly was not in Washington when Musk used DOGE to undermine the welfare and security of America in 2025 AD.
There is an irony afoot here.
Let us pause to consider it.
Nero
As was the custom of his class and court, on 18 July 64 Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus was escaping the summer heat at his seaside villa at Antium, 41 miles outside the city. From there he received news of the blaze as it destroyed 10 of Rome’s 14 districts during the course of a 6-day, 7-night rampage past fire suppression units deprived of the amount of water needed to douse the flames.
He returned to the city offering bread, games, and shelter to the displaced citizenry. He also immediately moved to clear the rubble in those areas scheduled to implement his vision of new public places and spaces celebrating his own greatness.
The cost to rebuild Rome was immense, requiring funds the state treasury did not have. To find the necessary funds for the reconstruction, Nero's government increased taxation.[76] Particularly heavy tributes were imposed on the provinces of the empire.[77] To meet at least a portion of the costs, Nero devalued the Roman currency, increasing inflationary pressure for the first time in the Empire's history.[f]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nero#Reign_(AD_54%E2%80%9368)
Donald John Trump
On 8 out of the first 28 days of the implementation of Project 2025, Trump was not in Washington when Musk led DOGE on a rampage through the framework and operation of law in America. The Mad King was playing golf, consorting with the enemy, insulting allies, taking a victory lap around the Daytona 500 race course, and intermeddling with traffic restrictions in a major city. Jonathan Freeland has labeled Trump “the greatest showman and weakest strongman” the world has experienced to date.
As to Character
Both men used geographic distance to escape direct responsibility and risk for self-serving damage to places and institutions they wished to refashion in their own image.
As to Consequences
In Rome, 68 AD.--Four years after the Great Fire, the Senate declared Nero a public enemy.
His Praetorian Guard left him unprotected in an empty palace. He could not find a gladiator willing to deliver a mercy death blow. He died in the villa of an imperial freedman 4 miles outside Rome, begging for someone to take his cowardly life. His death ended the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Rome never again was the same in form, function, power, and influence.
In America, 2025 AD.--Four weeks into Donald John Trump’s Revenge Tour, we must accept the fact that the guy has forced us down a path of totally intended immediate consequences to the benefit of members of the global oligarchy. We cannot rebound from the damage already done. We are changed.
Pete Hegseth is hollowing the leadership at military training facilities, in security advisory roles, and atop active field operations at home and abroad. Our traditional guards and gladiators will not be available to the Mad King when he requires personal assistance with the unintended consequences of his self-serving actions.
Lives have been lost. Expertise and experience have been demeaned and demoralized. Sand has been tossed in every working gear of our government. Congress is cowed. A partisan Supreme Court relishes its turn to ignore, abuse, and erase legal precedent. Our nation never again will be the same in form, function, power, and influence.
Just because we will never be the same again does not mean we must follow in Rome’s sad footsteps.
We can resist, survive, and prevail against the implementation of Project 2025. What is left of us will be able and willing to come back wiser and stronger. We survived our first civil war. We will rise above this one.
We are history’s Phoenix of Freedom. We need not abandon the myth of ourselves. We need not let the flame of common decency die in the ashes left in the wake of an insecure bully’s Tour of Revenge.
In the immortal words of The Six Million Dollar Man, we can rebuild us. Better. Stronger. We have the passion and the innovative habit needed to meet the challenge.
Heads up.
Hearts strong.
Let us use our persons and our purses every day in every legal way to deny, delay, destroy the implementation of Project 2025.
Each of us need not do more. Each of us must not do less.
Persist.
Prevail.
Thoughtful, historical, and uplifting.
Thank you for another look at the painfully obvious from two vantage points--Rome (when it was the empire and ruled the world) and the USA as it now feels the impact of Trump breaking all systems. Anne Applebaum, the Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and journalist who is an expert on authoritarianism, reminded us this weekend: "Nothing is inevitable. Look at what we can learn from elsewhere. People have agency. You can contribute to local politics. You have the power of the purse. Joy is the greatest resistance to fascism. Trumpism wants you to feel overwhelmed. Laugh at them and feel good and happy. Living well is the best revenge. Don't let them ruin your mood. Your psychological wellness and strength come first and then you can resist in other ways."