The 'Great Man' Presidency
Is Donald Trump reading Hegel?
April 30, 2026
31 min
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Episode 181 · April 30, 2026
The 'Great Man' Presidency
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The Atlantic Episodes Around April 30, 2026
Episode 356 of 364 — walk the feed in the order it was published.
31:41This episodeThe 'Great Man' Presidency
Summary
Alexander the Great. Julius Caesar. Napoleon Bonaparte. Donald Trump
The Atlantic staff writers Ashley Parker and Michael Scherer reported this week on the president privately comparing himself to the three norm-defying, world-historical figures highlighted in the work of the German philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel.
The president has also sought to make his mark across seemingly every manner of federal real estate, including national monuments and even currency and passports.
If Trump’s focus is on himself as a great man of history, what is he doing—and, more notably perhaps, not doing—as president today?
Read Ashley and Michael's article: “The YOLO Presidency.”
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