How the United States can survive Trump, a lesson from ancient Rome

People like to compare the United States to Ancient Rome, and for good reasons — Rome and America are big empires with staggering wealth and massive militaries. The trend in the era of Donald Trump has been to compare our situation to two periods in Roman history — usually, the fall of the Roman Republic in the first century BCE or the fall of the western Empire itself in the fifth century CE. These comparisons come for good reason. During the fall of the republic, ambitious and cynical populist politicians bent the rules and violated the norms of Roman politics, leading the republic into civil war and dictatorship. During the fall of the west, rich Romans ignored their civic duty and the problems of the empire, preferring instead to accumulate wealth, rig the system for their offspring, and enjoy luxury. Do either of these sound familiar? But there is perhaps another period of Roman history that we can look to for a little bit of hope — the first century CE. During this period, Rome had a series of awful, narcissistic, destructive leaders, and it largely didn’t seem to matter. Rome prospered despite its dysfunctional politics, but why?

The Roman Republic ended when Augustus, Julius Caesar’s young great-nephew, took over and made himself the ruler of Rome. He was very careful not to present himself as an emperor, often going to elaborate lengths to turn down opportunities for power and making sure to control only what was necessary. He presented himself as the “first citizen,” or princeps, and…