Trump and Weinstein: depraved elites who symbolise a decaying republic

Niall Ferguson says the lessons from the latter days of Rome’s republic are instructive – and alarming – when we consider not only Donald Trump, but Harvey Weinstein’s Hollywood enablers

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Producer Harvey Weinstein arrives for the 86th Academy Awards in Hollywood in March 2014. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has expelled Weinstein amid mounting sexual harassment, assault and rape accusations. Photo: AFP

Published: 4:28pm, 16 Oct 2017Updated: 7:11pm, 16 Oct 2017

Wildfires ravage the vineyards. A hurricane lays waste to an island colony. A great port is submerged by floodwater. Meanwhile, the most powerful citizen of the republic picks quarrels with athletes. He threatens to tear up treaties. He throws tantrums at his staff.

In the Senate and courts, old constitutional forms continue to be observed. But the plebeians sense the elites are losing their grip. Every week brings a new revelation about the hypocrisy of those elites.

Five days a week, on average, I reassure myself that everything that has happened in the United States in the past 10 years is well within the range of normal American history. Two days a week, however, I fear I am living through the republic’s final years.

US President Donald Trump, with First Lady Melania, answers reporters’ questions about his decision to withdraw presidential certification of the Iran nuclear deal, as well about his moves to dismantle Obamacare, last Friday. Photo: EPA-EFE

Hollywood hails Academy decision to expel Harvey Weinstein after sexual harassment claims

The cast of characters was especially Roman last week. Think of Harvey Weinstein, whose behaviour was for years an “open secret” among the Hollywood types so shrill last year in condemning Donald Trump.