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Fear In Niccolo Machiavelli's The Prince

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Machiavelli, in The Prince, claims that “it is much safer to be feared than loved, if one has to lack one of the two.” Trump chose fear, but he disregarded being loved as a component. The fear was accompanied with hate, leading to an unsuccessful attempt of Machiavelli’s thought within his current presidency. Machiavelli believed that “since men love at their convenience and fear at the convenience of the prince, a wise prince should found himself on what is his.” The people will not rise up against the prince if they fear him; he can control them in fear, not necessarily in love. Within Dr. Innes’s lecture on September 19, 2017, he discussed his interpretations of Machiavelli’s work. Two topics remain relevant to the discussion of Trump: …show more content…
Since ideally one would have both, it would be practical to not do away with love completely although the prince’s focus is on fear. Machiavelli reasons for fear to take priority over love is “since men love at their convenience and fear at the convenience of the prince, a wise prince should found himself on what is his.” If the people fear the prince, he has control as to when to impose that fear and have them submit. Machiavelli claims that a wise prince would choose that option. Trump found himself on …show more content…
They’re being reasonable.” “Why a Trump presidency inspires fear.” “Donald Trump’s Inauguration Marks the Beginning of the Era of Fear.” Three headlines about Trump’s presidency that prove of the fear he inspired in his people. Trump made many outrageous claims about what he would do once in office, one being stricter restrictions on immigration. Yes, many immigrants were fearful upon him entering office, but the true fear arose once he enacted the policy immediately. He made sure that the people were truly in fear of what he was capable of. He followed the thought that “it is much safer to be feared than loved.” Yet, he did not have the American people at his convenience. Protests arose everywhere. Politicians and judges were fighting back. Why? Isn’t fear supposed t to keep the people at the prince’s convenience? Trump did not consider the aspect of love is still important. The prince/ruler, must make sure that the fear is not also hatred. Hatred causes the people to be at odds with their ruler. Trump was also contradictory to the example of Putin. He did not try to appear merciful, he appeared to be who he truly was – a man with no room for love within his reign. He came into office and people were fearful, he made them truly fear him once he started to follow through with his words that originally instilled the fear. The difficulty with Trump is that he had created a sense of hatred towards himself after the first immigration policy

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