America wasborn in revoltagainst a mad king who imposed a tax on tea. The rise of King George III and the formation of the US A is a chapter in history that has aged well. Or so we thought until the world found itself in a familiar place again. 47th The US President has effectively imposed a tariff on Americans today.
The no-no of words and events is dizzying. on wednesday,Donald J Trump declared victoryin Operation Epic Fury. On Friday, he said the war would last another two weeks after Iran downed oneF15-E and an A10 fighter jet. Not every American marched in “There are no kingsCalls to recent protests, but most are caught between the split screen of Trump’s Truth posts and truths. A divided world is surprising and global leaders are questioning if the crazy act is a reality!
History provides some clues. Roman Emperor Caligulaknown as Gaius Caesar Augustus Germanicus, led an invasion of Britain in 40 CE. He led his army into the English Channel, entered the sea in his trireme, turned back, and had his soldiers collect the shells on their helmets and tunics as the spoils of the ocean. In 1812, Napoleon invaded Russia, aiming for a quick victory. The Russians destroyed it The great armycausing the end of Napoleon’s empire.
Cut to today’s era of grandiose illusions. Trump claims his tariffs are a $600 billion success story. Fact check: The US Supreme Court ruled against itthat and a trade the court orderedrefunds. The US-Israel strikes were aimed at ‘wiping out’ Iranian nuclear and missile sites that were claimed to be ‘deleted‘ even in June 2025. This week, Trump declared Iran must reopenThe Strait of Hormuz or the US would ‘wipe out’ its power plants. Is the war to restore order as it was before the war itself, which began with US strikes on February 28? The fog of war clouds reason. The US, with its track record in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan, should know this better than anyone else.
Trump expressed surprise that Iran attacked other Gulf countries and sank Hormuz. His surprise is incredible as his director of intelligence Tulsi Gabbard and The director of the CIAJohn Ratcliffe testified before Congress that Trump had been warned of the consequences.Joe Kent,a MAGA loyalist and counterterrorism chief, resigned asking the president to reverse course as Iran posed “no immediate threat” to the US. Kent said the war was the result of “pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby”.
The question is whether the ruler listens or listens. German Emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II dismissed Otto von Bismarck in 1890 as he wanted global expansion and Bismarck disagreed. He let the treaty with Russia lapse, allowing France, Russia, and Britain to join the First World War. The reasons for Hitler’s invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 ranged between delusion and economic desperation. A practitioner of segmented lies, Hitler gave his generals one set of reasons and the German people something else.
Leaders with unprecedented victories or accidental rises to power often suffer from hubris—a listthat includes Margaret Thatcher, George W Bush and Tony Blair in the modern era. Basically, they get to believe their own myths. This produces an illusion of dominance, which breeds arrogance, disdain for criticism and a sense of impunity. A crisis in such a circumstance causes ‘bystander behaviour’. In 1968, psychologistsJohn Darley and Bibb Latané found a simple rule: the more people witness that something is going wrong, the less likely someone will intervene. Fiction survives as long as it serves convenience.
There is a fine line that separates narcissism from out-of-body delusions. Trump likes awards, even those given to others. He likes to be praised regularly, like King Lear, by his cabinet. He insists on his signature on American currency and his name on iconic countries. His scattered sightings of distraction include rambling about pens, ca Bruce Springsteenlooks like a prune, to hisYouTube clipsfrom 1980 to 2024, and a cryptic post saying ‘Kangaroo Courtwith three exclamation points, but no explanation. He let Pete Hegseth fire the army chief in the middle of a war. On Saturday, as US forces were said to be searching for the missing crew of the downed plane, he tweeted, “Hold the oil, everyone?’
The past is not necessarily a prologue, but it illuminates the personalities that go outside the movement. Caligula declared himself a living god; his court played until his Praetorian guards killed him. Benito Mussolini, who dreamed of another shining Roman Empire, hanged himself upside down in Milan. Charles VI of Francethere were episodes where he thought he was made of glass and would break if touched; his court labored under the illusion of maintaining the pretense of a functioning regime. George III spoke to the oaks. Woodrow Wilson believed that he was God’s messenger for world peace. Richard Nixon wandered at night and talked to the portraits hanging on the walls of Who House.
A year ago,Trump told an interviewer“I run the country and the world.” Today, his NATO allies are unwilling to clean up his mess, the US courts aren’t playing ball, the trade deal with China is out of whack, Congress is unlikely to clean up his dreamwith a $1.5 trillion defense budget,and his party thinks it will take a hit in the mid-term elections later this year. A year later, the question is: who is willing to run alongside Trump?
Read all columns by Shankkar Aiyar
Shankar Aiyar
Author of Gated Republic, Aadhaar: A Biometric History of India’s 12-Digit Revolution and Accidental India
shankkar.aiyar@gmail.com
