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What Would Two Political Philosophers? Essay

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In the weeks following the 2016 United States Presidential election, much of the joy and outrage surrounding President elect Donald Trump has subsided. People of varying ages, races and socioeconomic classes have expressed in some form or another some sort of emotion regarding the status of the United States and where it will be in 2020. What would two political philosophers from history say? The best way to find out how Niccoló Machiavelli and Jean Jean-Jacques Rousseau would feel about the president elect would be to compare Donald Trump to their respective ideals, the prince and the general will. Machiavelli would certainly have mixed feelings regarding Donald Trump. His prince is supposed to do whatever it takes to gain power and maintain it. Though Trump has gained and will retain power, barring any impeachable offenses, for the next four years, he has not done it in a way Machiavelli would approve of. Machiavelli emphasizes the importance of the prince to not be hated in chapter nineteen when he says “the prince should think about avoiding those things which make him hated and despised; and when he has avoided this, he will have carried out his duties and will find no danger whatsoever in all other vices” (136). Though the vices he mentions are in reference to the other facets of being a successful leader, Donald Trump has literally found himself in physical danger as a result of his inability to refrain from being hated. At a rally in Nevada in November, for

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