The modern nation-state is relatively new. It was derived from a power struggle between the King and the aristocrats (whereby the monarch sided with the people to triangulate around his enemies). To lure the serfs away from the aristocrats, the king promised them more political rights. But, as Plato warns in ‘The Republic,’ any leader who tries to go up against the oligarchy will be attacked . . . usually with a trumped-up trial based on the false evidence of informants. Is this what is unfolding now in Washington, DC with the Soviet-style show trial of Donald J. Trump?
