Trump, just another ‘mad’ leader in the vast hall of political infamy?

Seeking to place the outgoing president in suitably outrageous historical context, Richard Askwith concludes that Donald Trump closely resembles Vlad the Impaler. And if we don’t find a way of metaphorically putting a stake through his heart, he’ll be back next time it gets dark

Is Trump going to end his presidency with the all-out power-abusing meltdown we associate with Caligula or will the ‘loser’ go quietly? (AFP/Getty)

With just over a fortnight of Donald Trump's term of office remaining, it is hardly surprising that the world is reflecting on the outgoing president’s place in history. But the historical debate so far has not been flattering – even before the shocking events in Washington on Wednesday. The trouble is, people keep reaching for the C-word. You’ve probably heard it: Caligula, third emperor of Rome, whose disastrous four-year reign (37-41 CE) made him synonymous ever after with depravity, cruelty and mental instability in the highest office. 

What could a mad emperor – who declared war on the sea, threatened to make his horse a consul, slaughtered people for fun, committed incest with his sister and demanded that his subjects worship him as a god – possibly have in common with the elected president of the world’s leading democratic superpower? Quite a lot, unfortunately.

Trump may not have murdered anyone, or made Trump-worship the official US religion, or done anything more incestuous than think out loud in public about his daughter’s sexual attractions, but he ticks an alarming number of other boxes