Abstract

Rousseau’s political science suggests three hypotheses for understanding the election of President Trump. First, he may be just the sort of “clever knave” or “insinuating talker” against whom Rousseau warns in the Social Contract; on this theory, Trump must be assumed to have duped the voters and be expected to disappoint his supporters. Additionally, Trump’s election to the presidency despite his never having held public office suggests a flawed institutional design. Second, the appeal of Trump’s nationalistic agenda accords with Rousseau’s claim that cosmopolitan ideals would not sustain a viable polity and that republican regimes would need instead to attract the patriotic devotion of the citizens; on this optimistic view, Trump would be expected to promote the common good of citizens, possibly at the expense of non-citizens and outsiders. Finally, Trump may perhaps represent the victory of a faction and suggest the fraying of our constitutional consensus.