The Return of the Statesmanship of the Past
Donald J. Trump won a most improbable presidential victory last week to become the 47th president-elect of the United States. The only accurate way to describe Trump’s victory is as a landslide: not only did he secure 312 Electoral College votes, and the GOP won majorities in the House and Senate, but Trump also won the popular vote for the first time in twenty years. These electoral and party victories, however, do not tell the whole story. Trump did all of this despite an eight year persecution by the ruling regime that lied about him colluding with Russia, unsuccessfully impeached him twice over trivial matters, ginned-up ridiculous lawfare cases that resulted in “convictions” by a Democrat-biased jury that was hand-selected to deliver the felonious judgment so that he could be thrown in jail (the sentencing date has been delayed until November 19), slanderously and falsely accused him of being a fascist, dictator, and American Hitler, attempted to assassinate him twice, and censored him and his supporters relentlessly—and this only scratches the surface. That Trump won on November 5 in such a resounding way is all the more remarkable.
How did Trump do it? How are we to understand such an improbable victory by a man many thought was a stupid buffoon and an unserious celebrity? Trump has proven them all wrong, emerging as a political force of nature that America hasn’t seen in a long time. Trump signals the return of statesmanship to American politics, something we are unfamiliar with in an age of stale, bureaucratic managerialism and petty party squabbles. Trump’s political sense, his bravery and calculation, and his unapologetic loyalty to America is reminiscent of statesmen of old.
Trump as Themistocles
Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War is not merely a remarkable work of history, recounting the series of wars between Athens and Sparta in the fifth century BC that improbably saw Sparta emerge victorious over its more wealthy, commercial, and imperial rival. Thucydides’ work is also a rich and penetrating commentary on political life, the nature of men, and the strengths and weaknesses of different constitutional regimes.
While Thucydides’ account includes a detailed recounting of events, he also highlights important speeches and the lives of great and dynamic men: Pericles, Pausanias, Archidamus, Nicias, Brasidas, Alcibiades, and others. One such individual was the Athenian politician and military general Themistocles. In his telling of Themistocles’ adventures—including being accused of conspiring in the death of Pausanias, the subsequent pursuit of him by the Spartans, and his flight to Persia where he became a high-ranking governor—Thucydides describes the Athenian in the following elevated way:
Themistocles was a man who had most convincingly demonstrated the strength of his natural sagacity, and was in the very highest degree worthy of admiration in that respect. For by native insight, not reinforced by earlier or later study, he was beyond other men, with the briefest deliberation, both a shrewd judge of the immediate present and wise in forecasting what would happen in the most distant future. Moreover, he had the ability to expound to others the enterprises he had in hand, and on those which he had not yet essayed he could yet without fail pass competent judgment; and he could most clearly foresee the issue for better or worse that lay in the still, dim future. To sum up all in a word, by force of native sagacity and because of the brief preparation he required, he proved himself the ablest of all men instantly to hit upon the right expedient.
Thucydides’ remarks reveal that Themistocles possessed the characteristics of ancient statesmen. While most men must strive for wisdom and understanding, Themistocles was endowed with them innately. Without having to study he could size up a situation, discern the persons and forces involves, foresee likely outcomes, and then act prudently to achieve his goals. What Themistocles possessed was an inborn ability to see with the mind’s eye what was going on around him so that he could take the best course of action.
Donald Trump is not an academic. He has been belittled and endlessly ridiculed for how few books he has read, and for unlearned he at times can seem. The reality is that Trump is despised by our educated (and elite) classes because he is not like them. But this does not mean he isn’t smart, knowledgeable, or unable to see clearly and act decisively. Trump is an observational and auditorial learning, a fact that came out clearly in his interview with Joe Rogan. Trump, recounting the first time he entered the White House eight years ago, shared his experience of the Lincoln Bedroom. Trump probably has little academic knowledge of Lincoln; he hasn’t read Basler’s eight-volume edition of Lincoln’s speeches and letters; he hasn’t studied the Peoria Address or poured over Lincoln’s debates with Stephen A. Douglas (although I suspect he has probably read, or is at least familiar with, the Gettysburg Address). Still, Trump was able to talk about Lincoln’s life, his rivalry with Robert E. Lee, and the death of his son, “Tad” in an enlightened and interesting way. Assuredly, most everything Trump recalled was something he saw or something someone else told him.
Trump’s observational and auditorial knowledge is an affront to our overly educated, scientific, and bookish classes. Trump relies upon his eyes and ears, and follows his gut sense, a supposedly out-modeled approach to life that gets him and his followers labeled “garbage.” Graduates of Ivy Leagues and those who have spent their careers in white-collar service jobs that require abstract thought and the mastery of facts and processes tell us that their understanding of life is the pinnacle of human knowledge and existence. They are wrong. They are both miseducated and biased by a stagnant and decrepit educational system that has reduced the richness of human life to the chopping block of social-scientific dissection. Witness Nate Silver’s disastrous prediction of the 2024 election. While he initially gave the edge to Trump, the night before the election Silver ran 80,000 simulations and announced that Harris would win by 40,000 votes. Of course, that’s not what happened: Trump barnstormed through the Blue Wall, snatched every swing state, and cemented the greatest electoral win of our generation with the popular vote (and now he has majorities in the Senate and House as well). How is it that our “educated” elites are not just wrong, but obviously and embarrassingly so?
Trump reminds of us Themistocles: without “earlier or later study” Trump possesses the native ability to learn and see how the world works without the need to consult theoretical models in sociological or economic textbooks. He often grasps the core of an issue immediately and speaks plainly and forcefully about it regardless of how politically incorrect it is. Consider his recent comments about how Liz Cheney is a warmonger who only supports war because she has never stared down the barrel of a gun pointed at her. She, along with our entire ruling class, are cowards, happy to sacrifice the boys and fragment the families of working class Americans in forever wars to achieve their nirvana of universal “liberal democracy.” Trumps grasps the injustice of this—as well as the utility of tariffs, the necessity of mass deportation, the wisdom of American energy independence, and the foresight of a pivotal China foreign policy shift—and he ran a re-election campaign to perfection that played on these common-sense, but often obfuscated, points that appeal to everyday Americans.
In this way, Trump’s experiential knowledge, style, and rhetoric represents the common American taxpayer, who, while not as educated as the ruling elites or the costal classes, is more intelligent and more human. Liberals upset with Trump’s election victory took to social media to heap scorn and derision upon Trump’s uneducated voter base, revealing the divide between a technically credentialed but out-of-touch upper class and the MAGA base. Trump’s supporters are not stupid; they simply don’t fit into the social algorithm that the Ivies and R1 Universities have modeled for the American future, and who have, over the past three generations, attempted to produce monolithic denizens spellbound by liberal pieties and prejudices.
Trump’s supporters see in him real statesmanship that hearkens back to an ancient mold and reminiscent of American statesmen of old.
Trump as Cyrus the Great
Xenophon’s account of Cyrus the Great in his Cyropaedeia (The Education of Cyrus) can also teach us something about Trump’s statesmanship. After recounting the nature of Cyrus’ education in Book I (in Media under the supervision of his grandfather Astyages)—an education in virtue and justice, hunting and war—the rest of the book is dedicated to Cyrus’ pursuit and defeat of the King of Assyria (who remains nameless). A major theme in the book is Cyrus’ distinction between friend and enemy, and his relentless effort to turn lesser enemies (real or potential) into his allies and friends. This is because the combined forces of the Persians and Medes are badly outnumbered by the Assyrians, and they need new allies if they hope to conquer. Although Cyrus implements major military reforms, transforming his light infantry into heavy melee forces, he knows that he must assemble a fighting team if he wants to be victorious.
First, Cyrus defeats the Armenian king and his army who had rebelled against the Medes. He puts the Armenian king on public trial and is about to justly execute him when the king’s son, Tigranes, intervenes and convinces Cyrus that his father would make a loyal ally. Cyrus stays his hand and spares the king’s life—displaying both his justice and clemency at the same time—and strikes a deal whereby he gets to keep half of the Armenian army as his own. Next, Cyrus heads off to deal with the Chaldaeans who are at war with the Armenians. After pulling off a heroic charge that takes the high ground and routs the Chaldaean army, Cyrus spares the prisoners and gives them the choice of peace and allyship, which the troops accept.
As Cyrus pursues the Assyrian army, defectors flock to him as they sense his prowess, fairness, and resolve. Two of the more important are Gobryas and Gadatas. Gobryas was an Assyrian by birth who ruled over a fort and manned a mounted retinue. He had been a faithful servant to the father of the Assyrian king; yet when the father died, the son treated Gobryas poorly and killed Gobyras’ son. Appearing before Cyrus, the Assyrian warlord declared, saying, “I give myself to you as a slave and ally. I ask you to become my avenger.” Gadatas was an Assyrian nobleman whom the Assyrian king had castrated and made a eunuch out of envy of his beauty that was attracting the women of the king’s harem. When Gadatas came to Cyrus and prostrated himself before him, Cyrus pitied his childless condition but declared that the Assyrian king “has not deprived you of being able to acquire friends.” Cyrus swears to the eunuch that he will “try to stand by you in aid no worse than would children of your own.” Gadatas arises and joins Cyrus’ campaign with great joy and Thanksgiving.
Cyrus was adept at making and keeping friends. Yet he was not unable to be cruel to his enemies and he was willing to kill them if necessary. In the final climactic battle against the Assyrians, Cyrus commands that anyone from his own troops who deserts is to be killed. Cyrus himself fights bravely in battle many times, killing soldiers and officials alike. But it is Gobryas and Gadatas who fight their way to the Assyrian king’s palace and there strike him down. With the king dead, Cyrus orders companies of cavalry to patrol the streets of Babylon and kill all those left alive (i.e., Assyrian soldiers). In this way, Cyrus’ total victory was secured and his reign and succession secured.
In a similar fashion, Trump’s victory last week was greatly aided by the fact that he turned old enemies into new friends, assembling a team of Democrat defectors, independents and centrists, and long-standing loyalists to defeat the Kamala Harris Machine. From Tucker Carlson to Elon Musk, from Bill Ackman to RFK, Jr., from Tulsi Gabbard to Megyn Kelly, from Joe Rogan to Marco Rubio, Trump has shown incredible skill, charisma, and magnanimity in generously embracing those who once hated him or were severe skeptics. This takes considerable relational and rhetorical skill: it is much easier to make enemies than to maintain friends, and it is harder still to turn your enemies into your friends.
Yet Trump has not only kept his friends from 2016 but converted many of his former enemies into his fiercest defenders and champions. RJK, Jr. recently commented that he once “had such contempt for, such disdain for” President Trump, but now believes that he “could be one of the great Presidents in history.” How can we forget the epic exchanges between Trump and Megyn Kelly during the 2016 presidential debates, in which Trump said he had “zero respect for Megyn Kelly” and that she was “highly overrated”? Yet this summer she campaigned with him, spoke at his rallies, defended him against accusers, and posted adoring pictures of her with him. There are doubtless many similar stories.
What Trump has done is Cyrus-esque, and nothing short of remarkable. In his comeback against the Democratic Deep State determined to destroy his reputation, deconstruct his first term accomplishments, and deny him the ability to ever be president again, Trump has literally reconstituted a New America First Elite to help him win and who will now play a vital role in his new administration. Americans wedded to the ideals of democracy are often reluctant to admit that we need elites. Yet all advanced civilizations have elites, something the founders of this country understood well and built into our constitutional order (the Senate is essentially an aristocratic chamber). The problem is not elites per se; the problem is that our elites have become utterly corrupted and incompetent, enriching themselves and their cronies off of the taxes and debt shouldered by hard-working American citizens.
Our elites must be replaced, and Trump realizes this and seems determined to make it happen. His cabinet appoints this week attest to this fact: Marco Rubio at Secretary of State, Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy at the head of the new Department of Government Efficiency, Tom Homan as border czar, Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence, Matt Gaetz as Attorney General, John Radcliffe as Director of the CIA, Stephen Miller as White House Assistant to the President and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. as Secretary of Health and Human Services. Trump is clearly rewarding his loyal friends with many of these picks, something that cannot be ignored within a friend-enemy framework. Yet these candidates are still qualified, proving that even if merit is demoted this doesn’t have to lead to incompetence or declining quality of leadership.
Many of these picks sent shock waves throughout Washington: change is coming, and the current ruling class is on notice that they are about to be replaced. Many in this class are Trump’s enemies, but they have done this to themselves by betraying the sacred trust of government and mockingly breaking the oaths of office they took to uphold the U.S. Constitution. Our political elites have ruled for themselves and have turned their back on the American citizen; Trump’s cabinet picks may very well bring back the old aristocratic ethos of noblesse oblige—the responsibility to wield power for good, in a noble and honorable way.
One hopes that there will be no bloodshed or violence, although some have predicted such. The entrenched bureaucracy in Washington won’t simply disappear or roll over, and will still fight tooth and nail to cling to power. Trump should prosecute those who are criminals with the full force of U.S. law—despite the fact that politicos and apparatchiks will shriek about how he’s a dictator illegitimately prosecuting his political enemies (which, of course, is what they were doing to him). Trump’s prosecution of elite criminal activity should be triaged to coincide with ousting those most threatening to his administration and effective executive action.
Conclusion
America is currently in a position she has never been in before. We have survived external threats from foreign foes and a civil war that split father from son and brother from brother. Yet never have we dealt with a government and ruling class that has turned so viciously on the country, plundered it from within, and sought to terraform it through intentional replacement migration and global economic and political machinations. Trump is America’s revenge for treasonous betrayal. To be an effective statesman in an age of political vengeance, Trump will have to draw upon the virtues of Themistocles and Cyrus the Great—as well as renown American leaders of old. Donald Trump is back, and so is statesmanship in America.
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