The Founding Fathers are often portrayed as noble revolutionaries, enlightened men forging a new government based on liberty and democratic ideals. But strip away the mythology, and they were, at their core, wealthy elites protecting their own interests. The signers of the Declaration of Independence were not common farmers or working-class rebels; the majority were landowners, businessmen, and lawyers who had significant financial stakes in breaking away from British rule. In many ways, they were men like Donald Trump: rich, powerful, and determined to shape the system in their favor.

The major difference? The Founding Fathers, despite their self-interest, still managed to create a functioning government with checks and balances. Trump, on the other hand, seeks to dismantle those same safeguards to consolidate his own power.

The Founding Fathers: Oligarchs in Wigs

The revolution wasn’t about freedom for all—it was about ensuring that a new ruling class wouldn’t have to answer to a king across the ocean. The Founders believed in restricting democracy: only property-owning men could vote, and slavery was an economic cornerstone they were unwilling to sacrifice. The blood spilled in the Revolution was not theirs—it was shed by soldiers, laborers, and enslaved people fighting for a vision of liberty that did not necessarily include them.

Trump operates from the same playbook. He has spent his political career appealing to those who have the least, promising them power while reinforcing policies that keep actual control in the hands of the ultra-wealthy. Like the Founding Fathers, he views government as a tool for the elite, not a mechanism for the common good.

Project 2025: The Modern-Day Counter-Revolution

The Founders believed that a select group of men should govern, and Trump’s political ambitions align frighteningly well with that principle. Project 2025, the conservative playbook for restructuring the federal government, would further entrench power in the hands of the wealthy while stripping away protections for the middle and working classes. If implemented, it could bring about widespread disenfranchisement—achieving what the Founders started but never fully completed.

The goal of Trump and his allies is not to create a dictatorship in the overt sense but to ensure that power remains permanently in the hands of a particular class—just as the Founding Fathers intended. The difference now is that the very people who cheer for Trump’s movement are the ones who stand to lose the most from its success.

The Fragility of a Republic

History repeats itself, and America stands at a crossroads. The Roman Republic fell when a strongman exploited its weaknesses, turning a democratic system into an empire under Julius Caesar. The United States, with its own built-in vulnerabilities, is facing a similar threat. Trump’s ambitions, like those of past autocrats, rely on the willingness of his followers to overlook the destruction of democracy in exchange for the illusion of strength.

“Corporate State, First Century Pre-Atomic on Terra. Benny the Moose.” – H. Beam Piper, Space Viking

But there is a key distinction between Trump and the Founders. The men who built the American government, despite their flaws, placed intelligent people in charge of crafting its institutions. Trump, on the other hand, surrounds himself with sycophants and the woefully incompetent. His administration’s sheer ineptitude may be the only thing preventing his movement from fully realizing its dangerous potential.

“What I said; dictatorship, with false parliamentary front. If he isn’t a false-front dictator for some oligarchy.” – H. Beam Piper, Space Viking

Conclusion

Trump is not an aberration; he is the logical conclusion of a system built to serve the elite. The Founding Fathers may have envisioned a republic, but they also laid the groundwork for an oligarchy. The difference is that Trump isn’t interested in the nuances of governance—only in the consolidation of power.

The question is: Will America recognize this historical parallel before it’s too late? What do you think?