I’ve said it before but reading all the medieval history books I’ve been reading lately has been so comforting. Makes you realize that there have always been mad and incompetent kings and they almost always die in ignominy and everyone piles shit on them for centuries after they’re gone.
I like what the Romans did of ripping the heads off of statues and whiting out faces in portraits.
What's more, we have had other extremely ugly periods in American history. Hasn't always been hearts & flowers.
Those ugly periods never being fully accounted for are kind of why we’re here in the first place
Yup.
And that makes this destruction of democracy, laws, and civility ok?
I just hope I'm one of the peasants that makes it through.
Pretty much sums it for me as well. Getting long in the tooth, so to speak, so I can only hope to live to witness the comeuppance, karma, that is absolutely sure to visit these f'n evil ass maniacs of this admin. People like s. miller, noem and tRump hisself do not deserve to "die happy."
I hope I live long enough to see the headline..... As for the rest of them? The power they have is because of him. When that's gone, loyalties will change. Is there a place at Fox for all of them to return? None are elected, will they run for office? Just many before them - ETTD.
I don’t care about me as much as I do my kids and grandkids. I know the U. S. Will make it through. How long it takes and the sacrifices that will have to be made is the question
The key word in “US” is “United”. Many forces exist that want to tear it down and remake it into their version of hell.
I want to be one of the peasants that gets to stab the monster with my pitchfork when all the peasants rise up because we would rather die than put up with one more minute of his bullshit.
Someplace recently, a historian pointed out that when empires fall, most of the ordinary folks don't realize it is happening while it is happening. Aren't we effin' lucky to know? 😐
It would be so cool if we all got to live our lives in peace until some dude rolls into town with a megaphone spreading the news that we’ve been conquered and the new, hopefully better government is already up and running
Personally, while I suck at learning languages, I would absolutely do my best to learn Mandarin if it meant high speed rail.
Sadly, our siege weapons are so much more deadly. That starvation thing is a keeper, though 🤯
Yes but meanwhile many people suffer and climate crisis was not on the table then
Democracy is being poisoned by a deranged psychopath enabled by people with a lust for money and power.
That's a really comforting thought when you're actually enduring all the chaos including bloodshed, economic destitute, famine, and paranoid persecutions. I probably left out some fun tidbits, but you get the impression.
But many suffer
Reassuring just let 47s obit come soonest
Nearly all medieval kings were competent, and I can't think of any ones who were insane per se. There is a difference between Bad King John and Mad King George,
That’s so true.
The parallels between Henry VIII and Trump are amazing. It’s he people around them just trying to get power and money that enable insane kings.
I love the perspective but its hard to feel it when you are in the beginning of the reign.
Every empire begins with the subjugation of people by the few who proclaim themselves gods. Empires end when people realize that there are no gods to rule them, just greedy, cruel, little men.
Been watching The Last Kingdom over the last week and while what you say is true, a lot of people live miserable lives as a result and many many die. I had hoped we learned from history. Many of us did. Unfortunately 75,000,000 didn’t so here we are
I’ve been looking for solace in history too. Unfortunately, it always involves periods of horrific sacrifice and bloodshed before the incompetent regime is removed.
Yes, this is one of my main comforts two. Was reading Dan Jones book on the Magna Carta, and as he covered what King John did, I realized Trump has done about all these things except get excommunicated. Maybe it's time for another Magna Carta moment
We can but hope!
I want to pile shit on our mad and incompetent king while he's still living so that he can feel the humiliation and ignominy and see our enjoyment of it. As the great and wise philosopher Lucinda Williams asked, shouldn't we have this?
that trump and his filthy wretched followers will crash and burn and trump will be remembered throughout history as a disgusting parasite is without doubt. The problem, as always is all the suffering and destruction he causes until he's gone.
From your lips to God’s ear.
This gives me some hope in this bleak time.
tbf that was also a world before the nuclear bomb existed
At least there wasn’t a completely collapsing ecosystem in the middle ages. Though we don’t have the Black Death… yet.
The black death may be making a come back, just like the Measles abcnews.go.com/Health/new-m...
www.unmc.edu/healthsecuri...
Except the planet wasn't on or past the tipping point with global warming, there was still enough nature to support a modest and appropriate number of people, no bee colony collapse disorder, enough water for everyone, etc. etc.
privatereel38.blogspot.com?m=0
It's just that so many suffer until they are gone.
They used poison better back in those days.
True, but they also wreck and bankrupt their kingdoms on the way down 🤦♀️
And MANY innocent people are injured and die needlessly!
It also works another way... People who knew why something was bad, will have gone to extraordinary lengths to avoid repeating the episode in the future. So before breaking a norm, make sure you understand its history in order to know why the norm was established.
I really love this take! ❤️
Heck, Forsaken (2015) has a scene in the first 30 min, a bully beats up a farmer in the street. #KieferSutherland says "That's enough." Got me all emotional. I feel you, Craig.
This is a common thing I see people say and it's a little comforting but also: has it ever happened at a global scale where the despot has a direct line of instant communication with people's pockets? I think when he dies many will wake up but the damage he's doing is not easily fixed.
Except that the family’s reign doesn’t end with the death of the mad and incompetent king. And madness and incompetence are inheritable traits. I’m not holding out hope for a benevolent Donald II or Barron I. Or that Melania will turn out to be an entertaining and drunk Queen Mother/Step-Mother.
But how long does that take and how much damage is done in the meantime
Yeah, that’s the tough part, the fallout in the meantime can be brutal. But history does show that eventually their power crumbles and they’re remembered more for their failures than their reign.
Empires rise, self-destruct and decline. It is a tale as old as mankind. That those empires now have the power to destroy all life on the planet is kind of the difference.
Except this time, the emperor is backed by a machine that will put another idiot on the throne as soon as Donald leaves. They won't relinquish power. Look at China—how long has the Communist Party been in power? People there live under constant surveillance and oppression. 80 yrs of MAGA? No, thanks
Hear hear
Thanks. I feel better, for at least a few minutes!
I read “Unruly” by David Mitchell earlier this year and had the exact same feeling
That's not helping us now, though. ☹️
🙂 History will not treat the "current occupant" kindly.
I wish this offered more solace. I can’t help wondering what the state of America’s democracy willbe when this finally happens.
also, one can live without electricity.
We never learn anything from history
King Ludwig of Bavaria drowned in a pond in his palace grounds and his prime minister with him. The story is the mad king fell in and the other man tried to save him. So sad.
drowned w/out any water in his lungs quite a trick
Blurp, blurp...
My bad, it was his doctor who died with him, not his prime minister. His ministers deposed him on the grounds of insanity. He drowned in waist deep water. Some one strangled the doctor. I should check stuff instead of relying on an imperfect memory.
Perhaps buildings weren't tall enough back then to use the windows like Putin et al.? ;)
So there’s hope
It pains me to see such intelligence in this world squashed and manipulated by the corrupt few.
I totally get this. I got thru Trump 1 by obsessively watching and reading about Watergate. I am getting thru this so far with lots about Churchill. And for some reason, Ken Burns videos.
Look at that Trump
Our historians will have lots of material to work with.
Yeah well by then there will be nothing left in former America. He profits from bankruptcy.
Sadly, the time-honoured traditions of permanently deposing said mad kings has rather gone out of fashion in this modern era! 😜
Yes
The U.S. will deserve its fall from grace and should be shunned from global affairs until it can prove that it has put legislation in place to make sure another Trump can never happen again. Term limits for all federal officials, overturn Citizen’s United, scrap the Electoral College…
I agree with all except term limits. We have term limits – they are called elections. The problem is that we have a boatload of people in this country who are so patheticly stupid that they voted for a soulless, criminal lunatic – twice.
The existing "term limits" failed. The founders never envisioned lifetime politicians and term limits are needed for all positions including SCOTUS.
Obama was term limited. Would Trump have won if Obama had been allowed to run for a third term?
It's not the presidency. It's Congress. We need term limits because folks are discouraged to run against incumbents. So, we get stuck voting for the same people over and over.
The President is theoretically term limited. Let's see what Trump does with it. All elected or appointed positions need term limits. The length can be debated but not the intent. SCOTUS is a perfect example. Why should they serve for life? Maybe 20 years max should do the trick.
I'm against all term limits, including for SCOTUS. Lifetime appointments, however? Absolutely not. I would give justices, say, 10-year terms. If the president in office at the time their term ends wants to reappoint them, they should be able to. 
I guess. But if you get somebody good, say Bernie Sanders – before he got this old of course – you may hope they could stay. And the inordinate power of incumbency is mainly tied to fundraising. We need to get money out of politics, to the extent possible. Even John McCain understood that.
No but gerrymandering keeps them elected and that has to go.
Oh hell yes. 
Well we had a great system of checks and balances in place before Trump and it still happened. Power, greed and racism have to be neutralized before there’s any hope of a true American come back.
This is true, but they didn’t have the firepower to destroy the planet multiple times over
Rewatching The Tudors (which would be so great if not for the historical inaccuracies) & Henry's descent into authoritarian madness is SUCH a frightening parallel. Just be glad we got rid of The Block and draw-and-quartering 😱
Eric and Don Jr’s kids will absolutely change their surnames.
The felons grave will have to be secret or people will be pissing and crapping on it all of the time.
It's a good thing the USA doesn't have any kings
sic semper tyrannis
How many of them have actively destroyed the nation or empire that they held insane sway over, or removed the main stabilising, constraining influence over all the other insane kings around the world who have weapons capable of destroying all human life?
But also lots of death. And misery.
It's no wonder China doesn't trust the United States -- we went from Obama to Trump to Biden and then back to Trump -- a country full of country bumpkins that don't know how to dress themselves.
Most incompetent kings are killed by their own ppl.
Yay! Something to look forward to!!
So looking forward to that last piece in n your message.
All I want to do is live to 100 years old so I can see what history says about this administration
Perfect ending for the 🍊🤡!!!
Thanks for sharing and it is comforting....not while its happening but nice to know that is the direction we are going....
rewatched I, Claudius for the same reason.
History repeats it's self! Remember Learning this in elementary school
History doesn't repeat itself. But it rhymes.
I have been reading a lot of medieval history, specifically late antiquity/early medieval, and have felt the same.
King Trump the Incompetent
Due to nationalism and the desire to maintain human hierarchies within nations, it is very challenging to separate myths and legends from historically verifiable facts. I hope that you pursue a healthy scepticism and intellectual rigour in your choices of material.
valid point but they can cause a LOT of literal death and destruction in their wake that never needed to happen in the first place. Ounce of prevention rule (and showing up to vote) applies in spades here...and paying attention to history before doing it again..and again...and again.... #jaitTrump
Yes, we are currently living in shitty times, but we've lived in plenty of shitty times before. The only difference is that, thanks to modern communications, we can now listen 24/7 to people telling everyone how shitty things are (and whose fault it is).
Well said Craig. Totally agree & find comfort in history myself. The mistakes aren’t new and tyrants never win. Still astonishing to live in a time with essentially a 24 hour news cycle covering our generations Henry VIII & see religion is still the main source of a despots control 500 years later.
That is really, strangely comforting. Thanks
russia's only competent tsar, Alexander II, who freed serfs, died in a terrorist attack. Says all about the country.
Thank you for reminding us that the mad king’s reign will end. That day can’t come soon enough.
Yeah, but these kings did not have a military powerful enough to end civilizations on a global scale so maybe don't feel too comforted...
Yeah, the upcoming procession and grave is going to to bring out a lot of emotions... judging by how his star in Hollywood gets treated, it's not looking good.
Praise be
I love that for them, but hate it for us peasants who suffer at their hands and never even make it into the history books.
History provides me little comfort because we’re not living in a serfdom but under a fascist capitalist dictatorship.
Does not help the people they kill or hurt
I appreciate both the reminder and the positive spin. I needed that
Doesn’t give much hope for the future
The difference this time, of course, is that those kings didn't have an arsenal that could kill everyone on the planet, and army that could enslave the planet, and weren't facing the imminent death of the planet itself due to inaction. Yes, this has happened before. But then again, no it hasn't.
This is not to mention the fact that we were not personally friends and family of those victims. Those dead people are statistics. Our dead people are people.
Ahhh, now that brings a smile as I think about karma catching up with trump.
You have to pity those who suffered under them because of their cronies who enabled the incompetence
Did they have Palantir, the most powerful militaries ever, and the greatest surveillance apparatus in human existence? This is not that. Better resist and soon, or this may be our last dance.
Some even get turned into movies ,like Caligula. :)
not soon enough in this case.
Except for not having weapons capable of incinerating the planet and global economic relationships that can crash the world's economy, it's exactly the same!
History will not be kind to Trump; he'll wear a bigger pile of that shit than not just any president, but anyone elected to public office.
The vote was fixed, though. The machines in key places were set to a fixed result. He wasn't elected, Muskrat was bought and Muskrat fixed the vote. Thus Muskrat snd Drumpf were off the hook from their lawsuits and started putting their cronies in place to keep it. It's a coup.
I would not be surprised at all if shenanigans tipped the election to the criminal. However, independent polling before and after the election shows that the vote was roughly 50-50. We can't keep pretending that 70+ million Americans did not affirmatively vote for this monster.
What is weird are places who voted Trump for president but the rest of the ballot all the way down is blue? That needs to be looked into:
Yep. Odd. Lots of odd stuff around the criminal.Like how his ear miraculously healed in a few days. 
Here you go. This is not my research and yet this is not the first time I've seen deeper investigation showing the coup. bsky.app/profile/midn...
As I said, I would not be surprised if this stuff tipped the election. But unless you're arguing they got to every single independent pollster and forced them to fake their results, we are still faced with the fact that about half of the electorate voted for the criminal. That's the tragedy.
If only it had been unkind about his first term, he might not have been elected because his first term wasn't that bad.
It's late, I don't have the time to list all of the ways Trump's first term was horrible. Easy examples: two impeachments and inciting a riot against the Capitol.
500,000 or so dead from his covid non response.
👉👉.......... 😈🤡😈 & LOTS of 💩💩💩👇 THAT's a YES for "trumpy dumpy aka EL PAYASO DEMENTE"
May his sycophants face the same fate. 😒
Thank you for this ray of hope. ❤️
en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dong_Zhuo
in power for shorter than a single US presidential term and YET
Widely reviled for centuries after!
Probably comforting to someone outside of a detention center or with no real threat of deportation. Guarantee you these history books do nothing for those the administration is kidnapping. When they die, those affected remain with their life upended.
Also, guess who we remember in these history books? It wasn't medieval peasant Joe Smithy.
😂😂😂
A lot of the Caesars came bad ends, too.
***Ronald Reagan has entered the chat*** 👍
Like King John of England who died of dysentery while the battle to capture & kill him raged outside the castle walls. He was so unpopular & hated I wouldn't be surprised if they threw his body in a cesspit. No royal has been named John ever since.
Hope so! But hell getting there.
Can’t hardly wait! Good times ahead!
Look up King Henry VIII (Tudor ). And his final illnesses.
I'm currently reading a novel set in the early years of Charles 11 with the recriminations against those who supported the republic. The US is starting to look a lot like this!
Exactly!!!
Yeah, but we didn’t have to live through it.
🤞🤞
And how many people got/get hurt in the process? #privilege
History will massacre him and it will be well deserved!
+ plagues + great literature so there’s that 😃
Yes, however, we currently have a country with 60% of the adults having below a 6th grade level of comprehension. We are well past the point of using logic, reasoning or facts to curb the situation. Especially when the 60% are the ones popping out the kids.
If only they didn't fuck things up for so many people in the process, I'd be happy to let this mad king babble away in obscurity.
If you haven't come across this one, it's a gem en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Dista...
Perhaps we should move things along. Do they have room in the Tower for it? The chopping block would be right there if needed.
The Egyptians chiseled them out of existence. Excellent idea.
I think about that a lot.
And then there’s the clean up? Or maybe we talk rebuilding?
I can't wait. I'm going to outlive him just for spite.
You must be referring to one of the countries that has a monarchy. Luckily, the US has a republic form of government.
We went through the years, we discovered that churches actually do nothing but take money, we learned kings are just entitled morons. We spent some time and came up with the most game changing government in a millennia. But all it took to break it was a dozen years of lying by a rich fraud.
I don’t think you (American people in general) really learned those things bc if you did, the church wouldn’t still have such power over you & influence your politics so profoundly. I hope this is a real wake up call bc always thinking you’re the greatest country on earth is what got you here imo.
We definately never recovered from the influences of our various cultural roots. I think Americans never fully understood our good fortune. It was all layed out in front of us for practically nothing. Americans fully accepted that all they had to do was eradicate natives and buy slaves. Legacy.
This has been in the works for decades, even a century, going back to the Confederacy, Industrial & Gilded Age, KKK, American Nazi movement, Movement Conservative, Tea Party and now MAGA. The belief system that gives rise to Trumpism has always been simmering, he just brought them to a boil
It’s astonishing how useless their hatred is. How meaningless. Red states fight off every possible advancement. They deny already made advancements. They embrace intolerances 2,000 years old. No republicans should be elected again. It’s self harm. It’s not sustainable. And they don’t know why.
Their hatred is a cancer. Their anger an addiction. Their power and wealth may separate them on earth but death is the great equalizer - one day they will return to the earth like everyone else.
Do not let their toxicity swerve you from being humane. They are poisoned by trump. In their greed they let him slither into their hearts. He is a mistake of a human. He is the most selfish person to ever live in America. He sold out 340 million people to enrich his family. And he is a liar.
Not punishing the south after the civil war was the mistake. They were allowed to teach the racism and hate to generations of children. After WW2 Germany banned all that hate for decades, we should have done that.
I completely agree. All remains of that hate filled culture should have been ground to dust. But we weren’t smart. At the time what happened was business cheaters dove headlong into ravaging the South for profit. We have to get business and religion out of government. They’ll be the ruin of US all.
The assassination of Lincoln made clear the war was not over and the wealthy white were not finished. They were allowed to remain in government, evolving until their triumph now with Trump in power.
So many of America’s modern issues are caused by this stupid division. There’s absolutely no reason for any of it and it can’t be defended by anyone. Maybe they’re just frightened by everyone. Maybe they’re just that needy.
Maybe someone should tell Donald Trump that
Echársela en vida ya de muertos no sirve, años y años demonizando el nazismo y resulta que estaba muy vivo en la vida de la gente y de ahí viene el genocidio en gaza perpetrado por dos naciones poderosas. El mal existe y está dentro de nosotros y si nosotros no lo paramos... emerge de nuevo.
😂😂 As a hobbyist of Roman history what you're saying is so true. The sequence of competence, followed by incompetent loons, followed by competence, followed by insane incompetent whack jobs, followed by competence is staggering. And the minting/destroying of coins/statues was big repeat business!
Have the elites in the democrat party devised a plan to hide Obama, Hillary, and Biden’s graves?
@fallofcivilizations.com but sometimes they take entire societies down with them.
We’re in a different era of meme and social media driven psy ops and propaganda. Look how W Bush completely rehabilitated his image despite lying us into war, embracing torture (violating human rights), failing to get bin Laden, and ushering in greatest financial meltdown in history!
Yea, but a lot of people always have to die to get rid of them.
This mask that he presents as controlling, arrogant, and proud. Behind it is an intense fear of revealing the Epstein files to the Mossad.
They have polluted the gene pool with their Hapsburg type mouth genes. The culture is utterly changed even at the linguistic level. Hurry up, peasants, seize the means of production on this alleged day of laborers. 🏌🏻♂️ ⛳ #fuggedaboutit
Looking at you Plantagenets!
But that still isn’t comforting for us in this moment. We are having to deal with it in the here and now.
Facts but Trump is dictator destroying the American democracy everyday as we we read old books and do nothing. @governor.ca.gov your with the lip service and special elections and do your job to stop him in Sacramento. You and the California elected officials should just redistrict. All Cali dems 👍
Yeah, but now, we’re living in the shit & it’s killing people. Cannot wait for karma & history. I don’t want those I love (including people I’ve not met) to die bc this greedy felon is plowing tanks over citizens who stand up for democracy. Fight now. Nonviolent but fierce fight—speak truth
Yes, tyranny and tyrants never end well.
Nothing like being hung, drawn and quartered for random offenses.
We are clinging to history for comfort and hope and even direction through the madness.
While true, that’s no consolation to the people that had to live through it!
It's all just a little bit of history repeating. Except for the nuclear weapon and the climate change stuff: we've reached big boy status now, and we can blow a good chunk of ourselves up real good. #thoughtsandprayers as they say.
But none of them had today’s global reach. I wouldn’t take too much comfort from that @craigcalcaterra.bsky.social
Hoping sh*t piling commences soon
Best post I've read all day! BIG BELLY LAUGH! (That I desperately needed! TY!)
But they kill a lot of people along the way
Sapkowski's "The Witcher" series pulls no punches making sure we know who are the real monsters. "Steel for men, silver for monsters." All so simple at first, until he invokes the Rule of Surprise and destiny begins to turn politics inside out and waves of war follow...
Yeah ..but THEY didn't have NUCLEAR WEAPONS....
Great let's have another round of put the trash in the bin
Henry VIII / So like someone we know now - even in looks. I'm not comforted seeing how we, as a species, have NOT progressed.
I wish I was that optimistic
100%. Reading history calms me down more than anything else because I’m like oh…time is a complete circle and we are in the down part now, we will come back up again.
...and then we vote in another one...
I don’t really want people to talk endlessly about Trump for centuries though
Are you saying we sit on our hands and do nothing about anything and let it implode?
History does bring perspective.
Donald the Terrible.
That's a nice word: ignominy
As an historian myself, I've been thinking this since 2016. Agree
reading the history of borders - and we think we have problems now...
Just wondering when the die part will happen
I’m not waiting centuries for the shit piling. I had a head start 8 years ago.
This is very good commentary. We need more practical and encouraging advice like yours during these times. Thank you for posting !
True. Humanity has survived, so far. Now w/ climate and WMD who knows? Still, Henry8 is glamorized by TV series, the miserable bastard he was. Only good thing he produced was Elizabeth1, who presided over some decent effects, almost in spite of herself. The history of monarchy is hell.
Spot on.
Me too. I am reading about the Anglo Saxons. A mess as bad as it could be.
The similarities are incredible. So I'm looking forward to Robin Hood and his merry men to save the day! Aren't you? I've heard they are right around the corner and here they come!
He won’t be around for the books but his crooked family will still be around to enjoy them.
Let's they stay the course
That was back when kings weren’t chosen by the people. Millions voted for this mad, incompetent, wannabe king and are too invested to ever admit that he’s a turd in human form.
Thank you for posting this. Personally when I read medieval history and all its conniving, collaborating, colluding and intriguing, my one takeaway is that I wouldn’t last a week.
Please let it be so!
That's EXACTLY why I love to read history or historical fiction!
I have been thinking the same thing. It doesn’t matter what You Tube history show I have on the deadly inhumane regimes always get flushed into the abyss. Many times they eat themselves. Yet the good ones stand the test of time.
There will be celebrations in the streets
Unfortunately a lot of other people die on the way til it gets better. That’s the tricky bit.
True, but remember the innocent people who die during their reign.
Medieval Kings didn't have nuclear launch codes.
The trick is to pile the shit on them whilst they are alive.
It’s a question of how much the general populace suffers until that happens.
We can only hope. But this looney tunez piece of shit probably gets off knowing he’ll be analyzed and written about like Stalin, Hitler, Pol Pot…
Assassinations were popular endings for the despotic
But I'll be dead, too. I wanted a reckoning during my lifetime. The shamed way the Nixons got in that car and drove off . . . that is want I dreamed about happening now, while I could witness it. I don't want it to be a succour only future historians can savor.
Sounds lovely! 😀😁
bsky.app/profile/patr...
This deserves a follow…..
Thanks, I needed that.
After Trump is gone, we will still have the same system that got a person like him elected.
