Political pundits often claim that elections are about addition. But if your real intention is to seize power and overthrow the existing political or social order, an essential step is division. Doing that requires exaggerating differences and deepening resentments. You also need anger, martyrs, and calls for retribution and revenge. The rise of Donald Trump involved all of these.

Tyrants have been using this playbook for millenia, After the assassination of Julius Caesar, for example, his nephew and heir Augustus began with revenge, tracking down and brutally dispatching the conspirators. But he also exploited the murder and resulting paranoia to establish himself as the first Roman emperor. Next, he changed the system, shifting the locus of power dramatically away from representative democracy and toward centralized authority. Augustus created a new imperial order with himself as dictator, wielding almost absolute power.

In America, after Trump’s first attempt to hold onto power indefinitely hit constitutional roadblocks, the Orange Caesar used his Florida interregnum to establish the rationale for bypassing the Constitution — a “deep state” conspiracy targeting him personally — and waited for the next opportunity. Traditionally, an interregnum is the time between the end of one regime and the start of another. They are often periods of instability and factional conflicts, as one government gradually gives way to another. In this case, Joe Biden was elected President. But Trump and his supporters never accepted this regime change or admitted defeat.

Although Trump avoided jail and was merely banned temporarily from a few social media platforms, it was similar in some ways to what happened to Hitler after the Beer Hall Putsch, a failed coup d’état he led in 1923. Adolf went to prison and was banned from speaking publicly for several years. While incarcerated, however, he wrote Mein Kampf, the autobiographical manifesto that outlined his beliefs and plans. By 1933 he was German chancellor, Mein Kampf was a best-seller, and the Weimar Republic, Germany’s parliamentary democracy since 1919, was overthrown.

Hyperinflation, political extremism, and resentment over the Versailles Treaty, imposed on Germany at the end of World War I, had set the stage for the Republic’s collapse and rise of the Nazi Party. In August 1934, after the death of President Paul von Hinderberg, Hitler merged the roles of President and Chancellor and officially became the Fuhrer, Germany’s supreme leader.

An important Trump move after his 2020 defeat was defiance in the face of multiple indictments, which helped to spark the MAGA movement’s resurgence in his defense. As a candidate for reelection he made outrageous promises like immediately ending long-fought wars. He openly acknowledged his desire to be a dictator and held provocative, hate-fueled rallies, starting in Waco, Texas on Saturday, March 25, 2023 — the 30th anniversary of the Branch Davidian siege in the same place. It was the perfect location to inspire the base and telegraph the radical nature and goals of his plan.

In 1993, aiming to arrest cult leader David Koresh, Federal agents had surrounded his Waco compound in a standoff that lasted more than a month. It ended in a deadly fire that killed 76 people, including 25 children. Deep resentments, distrust of the federal government, and predictions about the collapse of the American Republic had circulated ever since.

After seizing power, Emperor Augustus also went after the ability to introduce and veto laws, as well as taking command of the army. Until then, military leaders stayed out of domestic affairs, and the Senate was a check on authoritarian challenges. As power was redistributed, Rome’s popular assemblies, a legislative structure that had limited executive authority, became less important. The assemblies had operated on the basis of direct democracy and involved ordinary citizens.

The new emperor even took control over appointments to lower-level executive positions. No citizen could hold office without Augustus’ personal consent. In other words, he gained unfettered power over public institutions by eliminating his critics and repopulating the bureaucracy with loyalists and sycophants.

In the first months of his return to power, Trump has been working on all of the above and more, aiming to replace constitutional limits and traditional “checks and balances” with an unchecked executive junta. Compliant Republican majorities in the House and Senate have made this easier. But even before his reelection, the Supreme Court helped by providing future presidents with a powerful shield: significant immunity from legal action for official acts. This protects Trump from civil suits and criminal prosecution for any actions he takes that can be rationalized as part of his official duties.

In theory, the powers wielded by Rome’s emperors came from the Senate. But it served frequently as a legitimizer of the emperor’s expanding rule. The rubber-stamping of the dictator’s power plays provided a patina of legitimacy. On the other hand, the Senate was composed of Rome’s elite citizens and could also influence public opinion. Unlike the US system, it could declare the emperor an enemy of the state. After a leader’s removal or death, it could wipe the record of his reign from official history.

In the US, a different struggle to control the national narrative and shape the teaching of history is underway. It’s not yet possible to erase important events, except in insulated strongholds like North Korea or Florida, or on Fox news, which functions as state media. But federal agencies and a number of US states are working on it, fast becoming laboratories for autocracy and mass amnesia. Meanwhile, the balance between legislative and executive power is shifting, aided by gridlock, obstruction, intimidation and a preoccupation with investigations and payback rather than finding solutions to what looks like an authoritarian slide.

As I’ve previously noted, at least 70 percent of the world’s population was already living under dictatorships before Trump’s re-election. The late 1980s and early 1990s had brought a surge in democratization movements, challenging autocrats and leading to a transition to more democratic governance in several countries. But since then tyranny has been on the rise.

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Once an empire has been created, maintenance can become a chronic problem and a key to its longevity. While bringing Rome enormous wealth, power, and prestige, expansion ultimately helped bring about its downfall. An excellent road system contributed to trade and mobility, military and otherwise, much like America’s infrastructure. Both the US Interstate Highway system and the Internet were initially designed with military purposes in mind. Trump’s grandiose schemes for expansion by annexing or otherwise acquiring territories like Canada or Greenland are creating additional tensions.

The difficulties of maintaining the infrastructure of a vast empire weighs heavily and has unanticipated impacts. In Rome’s case, both the treasury and administration were seriously overstretched by domestic instability and persistent attacks from foreign forces. In the US, aging physical infrastructure is becoming a serious liability and cyberspace, especially artificial intelligence and cryptocurrency, may create uncontrollable risks.

Although rarely acknowledged, the US has been an empire for more than a century. On December 10, 1898, a peace treaty between the US and Spain was signed, ending the Spanish-American War. Spain gave Cuba, their prize possession, its independence.

In reality, this placed it under US control for the next 60 years. The emerging empire also acquired most of Spain’s remaining imperial possessions. That included Puerto Rico, parts of the West Indies, Guam and the Philippines. In less than two months the US had defeated one of the so-called “great powers” and acquired significant colonial possessions. It became one of few nations with the ability to project power far beyond its borders. Eventually, it would be labeled a “superpower,” a handy euphemism to avoid mentioning its imperial status.

In recent years, however, the US empire has entered an era of decline that looks unlikely to be reversed. Its basic ideals have been shattered. Its capitol has been attacked and vandalized by its own people. Its “rule of law” has failed. A return to “normal” no longer looks possible. Millions have lost faith and too much has changed. Perhaps the worst can still be avoided. But some of the barbarians are inside the White House.

Rome’s emperors tried to solve some of their problems through internal reforms. Most consequentially, Diocletian split administration of the empire into western and eastern divisions. He thought that would make it easier to manage. Instead, it proved to be a fatal choice. For the next 100 years, Rome attempted reforms to deal with political instability, religious disputes, and economic problems.

After the death of Emperor Theosodius in 395 AD, his two sons inherited the two halves, formalling splitting the empire into a Western and Eastern wing. That permanent break changed the world. Known as the Byzantine Empire, the eastern wing survived for almost 1000 more years, profoundly influencing the Middle East and eventually leading to the rise of Islam and Arab conquest. Rome’s western wing didn’t survive half as long. The fall was complete by 476, when a German chieftain deposed the last emperor. Political fragmentation and feudalism followed. Today it’s known as the “dark ages” of Western Europe.

Before the end, various dictators had introduced managerial innovations. Yet conflicts between East and West, plus external pressures and the depletion of Rome’s wealth and infrastructure, made the empire vulnerable to collapse.

Before he became president, Abrham Lincoln warned about what happens to a house (aka nation) divided — it “cannot stand.” His own prediction was that the US would survive and division would end, but ultimately the country would “become all one thing, or all the other.”

These days, whenever the far right feels in danger of losing national power, its lightning rods talk up something different, a national “divorce” for Red and Blue America. At the moment, they feel relatively secure, and claim their opponents are the real insurrectionists. Confusing dissent with disloyalty is a convenient excuse. But it may be just a matter of time until the underlying divisions, or a post-Donald succession struggle, gives birth to fresh calls for schismatic action.

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Greg Guma is a Vermont writer, former editor, and author of 15 books, including Managing Chaos: Adventures in Alternative Media. Visit the author’s blog. He is a regular contributor to Global Research.  

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