Donald Trump – Is Not Even Second
by David Palethorpe
What? I’m not the first? But I am, I am! (stamps foot, throws tantrum)
What do you get when you have a man whose personality demonstrates, on every occasion, an excess of arrogance and ignorance that is almost unimaginable?
What happens when that man believes he can do what he likes, when he likes, to whomever he likes, without fear of consequence?
Well, history has shown us.
We saw it in the early 20th century, and the consequences scarred the whole world.
In the 21st century, we appear to have been landed with a self-absorbed, megalomaniac, racist, fascist, and sexual predator as President of the United States.
But here’s the point: Donald Trump isn’t unique.
He isn’t the first.
In fact, he’s far from it.
History is littered with men who strutted onto the stage convinced of their own genius, dismissive of facts, contemptuous of opposition, and determined to bend the world to their will.
Mussolini boasted of making trains run on time.
Hitler claimed to be Germany’s saviour.
Franco, Stalin, and countless others insisted only they could fix their nation’s “problems.”
Each wrapped themselves in nationalism.
Each sneered at democratic norms.
Each demanded loyalty while showing none to their people.
Even outside Europe, the pattern repeats.
In Latin America, the strongman dictator became a cliché.
In Africa and Asia, leaders from Idi Amin to Mao ruled through bluster, fear, and a cult of personality.
The names differ, the accents change, but the characteristics are depressingly familiar: arrogance, ignorance, and the conviction of their own greatness.
Donald Trump is merely the latest in a long, dismal line.
His rhetoric is not new.
His tantrums are not unique.
His contempt for truth and decency is not original.
So, if Trump insists on being “first” at something, history has bad news for him.
The only thing he has achieved is to prove that the world remains vulnerable to the oldest trick in the book: a man shouting loudly, promising everything, and delivering division.
How galling it must be for him to discover that, in the grand scheme of human folly, he is not the first at all — not even the second, he is only the most recent.
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