How the republic falls

If you want to understand today's politics, read novels about the fall of Rome. Populism is democracy's oldest and most enduring disease

The headlines over the past month or so feel like a throwback to the distant past. An elected populist refuses to leave office. He fears, perhaps, prosecution once out of office for crimes he committed during his tenure — but he and his followers blame that eventuality on a vendetta by his political opponents. He blames traditional elites for his own failures in office. As time runs out, he gives an inflammatory speech. A mob, roused by his speech, attacks the power centre of the republic, called the Capitol. People die, and the republic is weakened.

Anyone who has immersed themselves