Source: Gideon’s Substack
by Noah Millman
“Machiavelli advised princes that it is better to be feared than to be loved (though better still to be both loved and feared), but also warned them that they should avoid coming to be hated, as hatred inspires rebellion and a willingness to suffer for the sake of removing the object of hate. Trump plainly wants to believe he is loved despite all evidence to the contrary, which is why he demands such humiliating sycophancy from everyone in his orbit, and while in the immediate aftermath of his election he inspired quite a bit of fear, as time has worn on he has inspired far more hate. But a prince can inspire something worse than hate, and that is contempt. … there’s something particularly pathetic about this ‘Lake America’ gesture. It smacks too obviously of Caligula marching his legions to the English Channel to collect seashells as evidence that they had conquered the ocean.” (08/28/26)