that analogy was never accurate. Trump was more like Gracchus - elected by the people to return to rule of law that had been usurped by the elites. just as Gracchus wanted to return the illegally taken small farms to the people, Trump wanted to return the illegally shipped jobs to Americans.
Your analogy falls extremely flat though in method. The Gracchi used every political tool in the book, legal and illegal, to push Rome further away from its founding principles, and toward the decades of civil wars that came later.
Their entire power-grab began by giving up their expected political roles as Patricians, so they could turn the Tribunate into an offensive weapon. The Tribunes were supposed to protect the plebeians from the Patricians, not start class wars. If anything, the Gracchi are perfect renditions of modern day Democrats. They were elected to offices they weren’t eligible. They used those offices to sow division. They greatly expanded the power of those offices beyond what had been historically accepted. They wanted to re-distribute wealth, make citizens of non-Romans, and ignore term limits.
Trump, on the other hand, is trying to restore America’s founding principles. Moreover, he wasn’t willing to take the quasi-legal next steps that many in this community wanted him to take.
The Gracchi pushed the “legal” envelope for political power. Caesar pushed the “legal” envelope for self-preservation. And Trump backed down when it came time to make that choice.
The land reform the Gracchus sought was to restore the prior order. It was the ruling class that lost the balance. They reacted with violence, killing their political opponents. and then afraid for their power (where have we seen that recently) they gave Opimius to power to do whatever he thought necessary to preserve the Senate. dictatorship in all but wording.
This is what is happening today. and what Sallust said about the end of the Roman republic is dead on today: "It is this spirit which has commonly ruined great nations, when one party desires to triumph over another by any and every means and to avenge itself on the vanquished with excessive cruelty."
that analogy was never accurate. Trump was more like Gracchus - elected by the people to return to rule of law that had been usurped by the elites. just as Gracchus wanted to return the illegally taken small farms to the people, Trump wanted to return the illegally shipped jobs to Americans.
Your analogy falls extremely flat though in method. The Gracchi used every political tool in the book, legal and illegal, to push Rome further away from its founding principles, and toward the decades of civil wars that came later.
Their entire power-grab began by giving up their expected political roles as Patricians, so they could turn the Tribunate into an offensive weapon. The Tribunes were supposed to protect the plebeians from the Patricians, not start class wars. If anything, the Gracchi are perfect renditions of modern day Democrats. They were elected to offices they weren’t eligible. They used those offices to sow division. They greatly expanded the power of those offices beyond what had been historically accepted. They wanted to re-distribute wealth, make citizens of non-Romans, and ignore term limits.
Trump, on the other hand, is trying to restore America’s founding principles. Moreover, he wasn’t willing to take the quasi-legal next steps that many in this community wanted him to take.
The Gracchi pushed the “legal” envelope for political power. Caesar pushed the “legal” envelope for self-preservation. And Trump backed down when it came time to make that choice.
At least that’s how I see it.
The land reform the Gracchus sought was to restore the prior order. It was the ruling class that lost the balance. They reacted with violence, killing their political opponents. and then afraid for their power (where have we seen that recently) they gave Opimius to power to do whatever he thought necessary to preserve the Senate. dictatorship in all but wording.
This is what is happening today. and what Sallust said about the end of the Roman republic is dead on today: "It is this spirit which has commonly ruined great nations, when one party desires to triumph over another by any and every means and to avenge itself on the vanquished with excessive cruelty."