Roughly two months ago, Thomas Friedman had a column in the NYT in which he was interviewing the author of a book about disruptive technologies in the 15th Century. Friedman asked the guy if he could think of a 15th Century equivalent of Donald Trump; he indicated that Savonarola’s sermons were similar, in their day, to Trump’s incendiary tweets.
At the time, I thought this was one of the dumbest things I had ever read. I had to reconsider, however, after I heard Trump’s dystopian speech at the GOP convention.
Notwithstanding the two apocalyptic visions, Trump and Savonarola have very little in common. The latter was an ascetic idealist who genuinely thought he was channeling God, not proclaiming his own personal greatness. You may well disagree with the wisdom of his objectives (I certainly would), but you can’t reasonably say that he was an opportunist or a self-seeker, and the thuggishness of some of his supporters was more than matched by his opponents. Trump, on the other hand, is a luxury-loving, wealthy cynic who seeks power only to elevate his already swollen ego.
I will be on vacation through next Tuesday. Posting will resume on Wednesday.