Abstract
Many analysts have attempted to make sense of the unexpected election of Donald Trump, but the thinker who offers perhaps the best explanation is Thomas Hobbes. Hobbes’ name has been invoked to warn of a threat to free government in an imperial presidency or a return to tribalism. But Hobbes himself is seldom read and widely misunderstood. His diagnosis of political disorders, and his remedy, can help to shed light on the diseases of the American body politic, the rise of Trump, and the cure. This essay begins with an unorthodox treatment of Hobbes as a classical liberal in Part I; its application to American politics follows in Part II.
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Notes
- 1.
Frank Luntz, “What the Polls Were Never Going to Reveal,” Time, Nov 11, 2016, accessed Jul 22, 2017 [unless otherwise stated, all articles hereafter were accessed Jul 22, 2017], http://time.com/4565560/frank-luntz-polls-never-reveal/.
- 2.
Nora Caplan-Bricker, “The Backlog of 400,000 Unprocessed Rape Kits is a Disgrace,” New Republic, Mar 9, 2014, https://newrepublic.com/article/116945/rape-kits-backlog-joe-biden-announces-35-million-reopen-cases.
- 3.
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- 4.
Martin Kaste, “Open Cases: Why One-Third of Murders in America go Unresolved,” NPR, Mar 30, 2015, http://www.npr.org/2015/03/30/395069137/open-cases-why-one-third-of-murders-in-america-go-unresolved.
- 5.
Dexter Filkins, “‘Do Not Resist’ and the Crisis of Police Militarization,” The New Yorker, May 13, 2016, http://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/do-not-resist-and-the-crisis-of-police-militarization.
- 6.
Jacob Rascon and Ali Vitali, “Protesters Assault Trump Supporters With Eggs, Bottles, Punches After Rally,” NBCNews, Jun 3, 2016, http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/protesters-assault-trump-supporters-eggs-bottles-punches-after-rally-n585096.
- 7.
Emilie Raguso, “Berkeley police chief: ‘Our people did exactly what we asked’ in April 15 demo,” Berkeleyside, Apr 19, 2017, http://www.berkeleyside.com/2017/04/19/berkeley-police-chief-people-exactly-asked-april-15-demo/.
- 8.
Roisin McCord, Edward Simpson Prescott, and Tim Sablik, “Explaining the Decline in the Number of Banks since the Great Recession,” Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond, Mar 2015, https://www.richmondfed.org/~/media/richmondfedorg/publications/research/economic_brief/2015/pdf/eb_15-03.pdf; Rep. Alan Grayson, “The Fed Bailouts: Money for Nothing,” HuffingtonPost, Feb 4, 2012, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rep-alan-grayson/the-fed-bailouts-money-fo_b_1129988.html.
- 9.
Bob Bixby and Maya MacGuineas, “Why the Federal Debt Must Be a Top Priority for the 2016 Presidential Candidates,” Brookings Institute, November 18, 2015, https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Bixby-MacGuineas_FINAL.pdf.
- 10.
Cara Newlon, “Hooking Up And Marriage: Luxury Goods For Educated Millennials,” Forbes, Jun 19, 2014, https://www.forbes.com/sites/caranewlon/2014/06/19/hooking-up-and-marriage-luxury-goods-for-educated-millennials/#66431ba93d11.
- 11.
Jessica Boddy, “The Forces Driving Middle-Aged White People’s ‘Deaths Of Despair’,” NPR, Mar 23, 2017, http://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2017/03/23/521083335/the-forces-driving-middle-aged-white-peoples-deaths-of-despair.
- 12.
John Graham , Obama on the Home Front (Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2016), 171.
- 13.
Rebecca Leung, “All in the Family,” CBS, Apr 25, 2003, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/all-in-the-family-25-04-2003/; Kimberly Kindy, “Ex-Homeland Security chief head said to abuse public trust by touting body scanners,” Washington Post, Jan 1, 2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/31/AR2009123102821.html.
- 14.
William D. Hartung, “How Not to Audit the Pentagon,” LATimes, Apr 10, 2016, http://www.latimes.com/opinion/op-ed/la-oe-hartung-pentagon-waste-20160410-story.html.
- 15.
Michael J. Glennon, “National Security and Double Government,” Harvard National Security Journal, Vol. 5, Iss. 1 (2014), 1–113; see Bob Woodward , Obama’s Wars (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2010), 301–17.
- 16.
John Avlon, “The Military-Industrial Complex Is Real, and It’s Bigger Than Ever” The Daily Beast, Jun 12, 2013, http://www.thedailybeast.com/the-military-industrial-complex-is-real-and-its-bigger-than-ever; John Napier Tye, “Meet Executive Order 12333,” Washington Post, Jul 18, 2014, https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/meet-executive-order-12333-the-reagan-rule-that-lets-the-nsa-spy-on-americans/2014/07/18/93d2ac22-0b93-11e4-b8e5-d0de80767fc2_story.html?utm_term=.5d8e7f09c9b1; Devlin Barrett, “U.S. Spies on Millions of Drivers,” Wall Street Journal, Jan 26, 2015, https://www.wsj.com/articles/u-s-spies-on-millions-of-cars-1422314779.
- 17.
Kathleen Hennessey, “Immigration stands as Obama’s most glaring failure,” PBS, Jul 4, 2016, http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/immigration-stands-as-obamas-most-glaring-failure/; Caitlin Dickerson, “Obama Administration Is Quietly Delaying Thousands of Deportation Cases,” New York Times, Oct 6, 2016, https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/07/us/delayed-deportations-illegal-immigrants.html.
- 18.
“Sen. Rand Paul: EpiPen Scandal is a Perfect Example of Crony Capitalism,” Time, Sep 7, 2016, http://time.com/4482179/sen-rand-paul-epipen-scandal/.
- 19.
Michael Greve and Ashley C. Parrish, “Administrative Law without Congress,” George Mason Law Review 22, No. 3 (2015), 501–47.
- 20.
Jonathan Adler, “How the IRS repeatedly rewrites Obamacare tax credit provisions,” Washington Post, Apr 14, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/volokh-conspiracy/wp/2015/04/14/how-the-irs-repeatedly-rewrites-obamacare-tax-credit-provisions/?utm_term=.ca251ba569fd.
- 21.
Peter Schweizer, Throw Them All Out (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011); Extortion (New York: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2013).
- 22.
Sohrab Ahmari, “Craig Zucker: What Happens When a Man Takes on the Feds,” Wall Street Journal, Aug 30, 2013, https://www.wsj.com/articles/craig-zucker-what-happens-when-a-man-takes-on-the-fed-1377903129.
- 23.
Juliet Eilperin, “U.S. exempted BP’s Gulf of Mexico drilling from environmental impact study,” Washington Post, May 5, 2010, http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/05/04/AR2010050404118.html.
- 24.
Timothy P. Carney, “Obama issues global warming rules in January, gives GE an exemption in February,” Washington Examiner, Feb 2, 2011, accessed Feb 3, 2011, http://washingtonexaminer.com/blogs/beltway-confidential/2011/02/obama-issues-global-warming-rules-january-gives-ge-exemption-febr#ixzz1CugJME1a; Brian Seasholes, “Angry Birds? No, But Obama’s Wind Energy Subsidies Have Them Very Frightened,” Forbes, Jul 13, 2013, https://www.forbes.com/sites/realspin/2013/07/16/angry-birds-no-but-obamas-wind-energy-subsidies-have-them-very-frightened/#4fdb0af679f5; Kimberley A. Strassel, “Behind an Ethanol Special Favor,” Wall Street Journal, Aug 13, 2013, https://www.wsj.com/articles/strassel-behind-an-ethanol-special-favor-1376437980; “Safety First, Fracking Second,” Scientific American, Nov 1, 2011, https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/safety-first-fracking-second/; Kate Rogers, “Is Congress a small business? The stubborn Obamacare challenge,” CNBC, Mar 6, 2015, https://www.cnbc.com/2015/03/05/is-congress-a-small-business-the-stubborn-obamacare-challenge.html.
- 25.
Emily Yoffe, “The College Rape Overcorrection,” Slate, Dec 7, 2014, http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2014/12/college_rape_campus_sexual_assault_is_a_serious_problem_but_the_efforts.html.
- 26.
See Steven Baskerville, Taken Into Custody (Nashville, TN: Cumberland House, 2007), 75–109.
- 27.
Frances Robles and Shaila Dewan, “Skip Child Support. Go to Jail. Lose Job. Repeat,” New York Times, Apr 19, 2015, https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/20/us/skip-child-support-go-to-jail-lose-job-repeat.html; Elaine Sorensen, Liliana Sousa, and Simone Schaner, “Assessing Child Support Arrears in Nine Large States and the Nation,” The Urban Institute, Jan 14, 2009, http://www.urban.org/research/publication/assessing-child-support-arrears-nine-large-states-and-nation/view/full_report; Christopher Mathias, “One-Eighth of South Carolina Inmates were Jailed over Child Support Payments,” Huffington Post, Apr 10, 2015, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/04/10/walter-scott-child-support-_n_7036174.html.
- 28.
Chrystia Freeland, “The Rise of the New Global Elite,” The Atlantic, Jan/Feb 2011, https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/01/the-rise-of-the-new-global-elite/308343/.
- 29.
For one assessment, see Helen Pluckrose, “How French ‘Intellectuals’ Ruined the West,” Areo Magazine, Mar 27, 2017, https://areomagazine.com/2017/03/27/how-french-intellectuals-ruined-the-west-postmodernism-and-its-impact-explained/; John Zmirak, “Illiberal Catholicism,” Aleteia, Dec 31, 2013, https://aleteia.org/2013/12/31/illiberal-catholicism/.
- 30.
“Noam Chomsky: Postmodernism is an Instrument of Power,” Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwTfHv5dpPw.
- 31.
See Conor Friedersdorf, “UC Berkeley Declares Itself Unsafe for Ann Coulter,” The Atlantic, Apr 20, 2017, https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/04/uc-berkeley-declares-itself-unsafe-for-ann-coulter/523668/; Allison Stanger, “Understanding the Angry Mob at Middlebury That Gave Me a Concussion,” New York Times, Mar 13, 2017, https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/13/opinion/understanding-the-angry-mob-that-gave-me-a-concussion.html.
- 32.
American Society of Civil Engineers, “America’s Infrastructure Scores a D+,” http://www.infrastructurereportcard.org/.
- 33.
Matthew Rosenbergapril, “With Bags of Cash, C.I.A. Seeks Influence in Afghanistan,” New York Times, Apr 28, 2013, http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/29/world/asia/cia-delivers-cash-to-afghan-leaders-office.html; Dion Nissenbaum, “Roads to Nowhere: Program to Win Over Afghans Fails,” Wall Street Journal, February 10, 2012, https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203554104576655280219991322; Lucy Westcott, “U.S. Paid $335 Million for a Power Plant in Afghanistan No One Is Using,” Newsweek, Aug 13, 2015, http://www.newsweek.com/us-paid-335-million-power-plant-afghanistan-no-one-using-362574; Josh Rogin, “After $200 Million, Afghan Soldiers Still Can’t Read,” DailyBeast, Jan 28, 2014, http://www.thedailybeast.com/after-dollar200-million-afghan-soldiers-still-cant-read.
- 34.
Peter Van Buren, We Meant Well (New York: Metropolitan Books, 2011); “Is This What Winning Looks Like?” Vice Media, May 27, 2013, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ja5Q75hf6QI; Sarah Chayes, Thieves of State (New York: W.W. Norton, 2015).
- 35.
Robert Cherry, “Black and Muslim Women are Invisible to the Feminist Movement,” National Review, May 16, 2017, http://www.nationalreview.com/article/447660/linda-sarsour-and-feminists-blindness-women-color; Allison Griswold, “When It Comes to Diversity in Tech, Companies Find Safety in Numbers,” Slate, Jun 27, 2014, http://www.slate.com/blogs/moneybox/2014/06/27/tech_diversity_data_facebook_follows_google_yahoo_in_releasing_the_stats.html; “2014 Hollywood Diversity Report,” Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies, http://www.bunchecenter.ucla.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/2014-Hollywood-Diversity-Report-2-12-14.pdf; Michele Hernandez, “Poor Students—Rich Ivies: Seeking Real Diversity at Ivy-Level Colleges,” Huffington Post, Dec 15, 2016, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-michele-hernandez/poor-students-rich-ivies-_b_13656152.html.
- 36.
Luntz, “What the Polls Were Never Going to Reveal,” Time, Nov 11, 2016.
- 37.
Alex Roarty, “Democrats say they now know exactly why Clinton lost,” McClatchy, May 1, 2017, http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/politics-government/article147475484.html.
- 38.
Mark Tushnet, “Abandoning Defensive Crouch Liberal Constitutionalism,” Balkinization, May 6, 2016, https://balkin.blogspot.co.il/2016/05/abandoning-defensive-crouch-liberal.html.
- 39.
Mike Allen, “Dems want to rebrand as the economic party,” Axios, Jul 22, 2017, https://www.axios.com/better-deal-economic-agenda-house-democrats-plan-2463550316.html.
- 40.
Sarah Ferris, “Showdown scars: How the $4 trillion ‘grand bargain’ collapsed,” The Hill, Feb 10, 2016, http://thehill.com/policy/finance/268857-showdown-scars-how-the-4-trillion-grand-bargain-collapsed.
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Slack, K. (2018). Thomas Hobbes’ Defense of Liberalism, Populism and the Rise of Donald Trump. In: Sable, M., Torres, A. (eds) Trump and Political Philosophy. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74427-8_7
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