When a Violent Mob Stormed Rome’s Capitol

Over 2,000 Years Ago, a Losing Politician Incited His Followers to Riot. It Ended in Death, Destruction, and Civil War

A politician-incited, post-election riot at a Capitol, seeking to block the result of a peculiar voting system, is not news. Ancient Romans witnessed something very similar.

On December 9, 100 B.C., Romans assembled to vote for the two consuls who would serve as the Republic’s top magistrates for the coming year. The election promised to be momentous. Gaius Marius, the dominant political figure in the Roman Republic for the previous decade, was finishing his fifth consecutive consulship. Once an extraordinarily popular figure, Marius had only won his most recent consular term …

by Edward Watts | January 8, 2021

Goodbye to America’s Authoritarian P.T. Barnum | Zocalo Public Square • Arizona State University • Smithsonian

Good Riddance to America’s Authoritarian P. T. Barnum

A Showman-in-Chief Will Depart, but the Trumpian Spectacle Lives on

by Jennifer Mercieca | January 7, 2021

Shortly before his supporters stormed the Capitol, interrupting the official congressional tally of the Electoral College votes, President Donald Trump gave a speech at the “Save America” rally. He promised …

How San Diego’s Worst Politician Ended Up in the White House

Peter Navarro’s Sudden Influence Shows What Happens When Anger and Accusation Dominate the Nation’s Conversation

by Joe Mathews | April 28, 2020

In the 20th century, we learned the Peter Principle: if you seek to rise in a hierarchy, you’ll get promoted until you reach your level of incompetence.

In the 21st century, …

Why Does the 2020 Presidential Campaign Feel So Loud and Angry?

In an Age of ‘Post-Rhetorical’ Politics, Candidates Now Compete, Rather Than Cooperate, With the Media

by Jennifer Mercieca | March 15, 2020

Presidential candidates have long found ways to take their messages directly to the voters, by avoiding the filter of press coverage. But today, candidates have gone steps further, turning themselves …

Will Donald Trump Be America’s First ‘Post-Imperial’ President?

As the U.S. Declines and China Rises, Its Chief Executive Will Have to Accept a Loss of Privilege and Status

By Victor Bulmer-Thomas | May 15, 2018

In a forthcoming book, I argue that the United States has been an empire ever since its birth as an independent country, that the empire ceased to be based on …

What Authoritarian Voters Really Want

Aggression, Not Submission to Authority, May Be the Psychological Key to Supporters of Strongmen

By David Smith and Eric Hanley | April 6, 2018

Authoritarianism isn’t just a word. When the landmark study The Authoritarian Personality first gave the concept psychological depth in 1950, the memory of authoritarian movements was fresh and indelible. The …

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