Yet as the German-American scholar of political philosophy Leo Strauss observed, Nietzsche did not regard Napoleon as the ideal of nobility itself, but rather as the problem of the noble ideal incarnate. Napoleon demonstrated how difficult it is for a great man to be both powerful and truly noble. “However much one might admire Napoleon, he is not striking as a very noble man, as Nietzsche himself says,” Strauss told his students in a 1967 seminar on Nietzsche.

Bonapartism Is Not Fascism—And Trump Is No Napoleon
Predictably, some commentators have rushed to conflate Bonapartism with fascism. But Napoleon’s rule was not defined by racial ideology, totalitarian control, or a militarized police state. He was a pragmatist who consolidated power in the wake of revolutionary chaos and worked to stabilize France. Unlike fascist dictators, Napoleon did not seek to abolish the old order outright but to restore it under his authority.

Trump’s presidency does not fit the mold of a Bonapartist regime, let alone a fascist one. His administration has not expanded the size of government but has worked to reduce it. His second term has been marked by aggressive efforts to fire entrenched bureaucrats, weaken regulatory agencies, and scale back America’s global military commitments. If his critics truly believed he was a dictator in the making, they would not be fighting to prevent him from shrinking the federal government. If they feared authoritarianism, they would not be racing to court to demand that unelected agencies be allowed to operate outside of presidential oversight. And they would not be decrying Vice President J.D. Vance’s defense of free speech in Europe if they feared Trump was going to curtail freedom in America.

The contradiction at the heart of the opposition to Trump is that those who claim to defend democracy seem most anxious to keep power in the hands of institutions that have become immune to democratic control in recent decades. The fear is not that Trump will become too powerful but that he will weaken the administrative state’s hold over the country.

A Fight Over Who Governs
The broader reaction to Trump’s post reflects the deeper conflict at the center of American politics today. His critics see his presidency as an existential threat, not because of what he has done, but because of what he represents: a direct challenge to a political establishment that believes it alone has the right to govern. Their insistence that he is a dictator has little to do with his actual use of power and everything to do with their fear that they have lost control over the system.

Trump’s Napoleon quote was not a statement of legal philosophy, nor was it a blueprint for authoritarian rule. It was a provocation, a carefully chosen historical reference designed to trigger the exact response it received.

Hitler did some good things too, Bobby. How do we know?

DL said.

KangAnon wrote Yesterday at 5:25pm:

You silly, pompous ass. What mistake are you talking about?

What have you misunderstood this time?

Karnal wrote Yesterday at 8:26pm:

Who ordered the waffle, paki?