A 2000 year old warning about Trump

[DemocratSinceBirth]

[Achilleaze]

1. Good old Cicero

[solara]

2. The Second Coming

By William Butler Yeats

Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.

Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

[img][/img]

[longship]

10. I've been thinking (and quoting to myself) this poem recently.

Thanks.

[solara]

16. Pretty apt, I think

[defacto7]

3. That's a K&R to me..

Plato has some prophetic things to say about democracy.

[Bernardo de La Paz]

4. Fortunately tRump's goal is not downfall of America but personal fame and gain.

However, it is devolving to: "If all else fails, immortality can always be achieved by spectacular
error." J.K. Galbraith (1908-2006).

[Chevy]

6. But Bannon does as per what he has written n/t

[0rganism]

9. Trump's goals are one thing, Putin's are another

and they are not incompatible

[Bernardo de La Paz]

12. True. The puppetmaster is hoping to keep USA unstable & confused for a long time.

To give him a free hand in Ukraine and the Middle East.

[Econfriend]

5. Traitor in 42 BC - But, Dark Triad in 2017

DT is a Dark Triad.

The dark triad is a subject in psychology that focuses on three personality traits: narcissism, Machiavellianism, and psychopathy.

Research on the dark triad is used in applied psychology, especially within the fields of law enforcement, clinical psychology and business management.

People scoring high on these traits are more likely to commit crimes, cause social distress and create severe problems for an organization, especially if they are in leadership positions.

All three dark triad traits are conceptually distinct although empirical evidence shows them to be overlapping.

They are associated with a callous-manipulative interpersonal style.

Narcissism is characterized by grandiosity, pride, egotism, and a lack of empathy.

Machiavellianism is characterized by manipulation and exploitation of others, a cynical disregard for morality, and a focus on self-interest and deception.

Psychopathy is characterized by enduring antisocial behavior, impulsivity, selfishness, callousness, and remorselessness.

END

[OldEurope]

7. Welcome to DU!

But I think that Trump is not intelligent enough to comprehend Machiavelli. I think Bannon is the real threat.

[0rganism]

11. illustrated edition :)

"A nation can survive its fools

and even the ambitious

But it cannot survive treason from within

For the traitor appears not a traitor --

He speaks in the accents familiar to his victims

and he appeals to the baseness that lies deep in the hearts of all men

He rots the soul of a nation --

he works secretly and unknown in the night

to undermine the pillars of a city --

he infects the body politic

so that it can no longer resist

A murderer is less to be feared."

- Cicero, Roman statesman, 42 BCE

[mshasta]

13. Indeed

[Delmette2.0]

15. Your pictures put it in perfect context.

Thank you very much.

[oldcynic]

14. Just means we never learn a damn thing n/t