A little over 2,500 years ago, there lived a man named Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus. If his name seems familiar, that’s because one of the United States’ great cities is named after him. Cincinnatus had served the Roman Republic in several capacities, including Consul of the Senate of Rome. But in 458 BC, the Roman Army was struggling to defeat the Aequi, an Italic tribe to the east of the city of Rome.
Cincinnatus had retired to a farm, but when Rome called, he answered. He was appointed Dictator by the Roman Senate, giving him absolute power over the city – and the army. He oversaw a quick victory over the Aequi; the Roman historian Livy puts the time at sixteen days. With that done, Cincinnatus surrendered the dictatorship and went back to his farm.
Livy and other Roman scribes of the time held Cincinnatus up as a model of civic virtue, an example for any who would serve the republic. I will not question their wisdom at this distance in time. I will note that the next time something like that happened was in the United States, when America’s first president, George Washington, left the presidency in March of 1797 and quietly returned to his farm, leaving John Adams in office.
We have no Cincinnatus among us today.
Earlier on Friday, my colleague Teri Christoph revealed to us a tale of corruption, of political malfeasance, maybe even treason, that one would think more Roman than American. But here we are. Teri writes:
Well, the Trump administration is getting in on the action with their own Friday afternoon document dump—and their dump also does not reflect well on Barack Obama and his administration. The documents in question are newly-declassified materials released by Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard showing how deeply involved Obama and members of his administration were in helping to devise and perpetuate the Russia collusion hoax against Donald Trump.
A clearly-irate Gabbard took to X Friday afternoon to detail what was found in the documents—i.e., Obama & co. made the whole thing up—and what she plans to do with the information.
🧵 Americans will finally learn the truth about how in 2016, intelligence was politicized and weaponized by the most powerful people in the Obama Administration to lay the groundwork for what was essentially a years-long coup against President @realDonaldTrump, subverting the… pic.twitter.com/UQKKZ5c4Op
— DNI Tulsi Gabbard (@DNIGabbard) July 18, 2025
If you haven’t yet read Teri’s account of this disaster, do so. Make sure you’re sitting down, and I’d recommend a good stiff belt at your elbow; you’re going to need it.
Read More: Obama Betrayed America: Gabbard Document Dump Shows Ex-Prez Played Major Role in Russia Collusion Hoax
Rome had its share of great statesmen – not just Cincinnatus but Cicero, Cato the Younger, and others. The United States has had great presidents, from Washington to Calvin Coolidge to Ronald Reagan, and yes, to Donald Trump. But the Roman Republic, in its later years, was mired in political corruption. The common people – the plebs – saw their jobs given to slaves, usually important from outside Rome, who cost their employers much less. (Sound familiar?) The political classes grew steadily richer and richer while in office, from side dealing, from outright conquest, and so on. (Sound familiar?) The culture grew ever more degraded, with public orgies and drug abuse. (Sound familiar?) Elections were not trustworthy, with established officeholders often running against fake candidates – straw men – and rigging the counts. (Sound familiar?)
Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose.
The outright criminal behavior by the Obama administration in 2016 is sadly familiar to anyone who has read accounts of the dying days of the Roman Republic. Barack Obama’s administration saw a man win the presidency who they assumed (rightly, as it happens) would be a bull in a china shop, and they bent every effort to delegitimize him before and after he took office. It didn’t matter if they had any evidence. It didn’t matter if they had to lie. It didn’t matter what they had to do; they would do it to ensure that the Democratic Party and the Deep State’s grip on power was unchecked.
It doesn’t matter which party is involved in this, on which side; these behaviors aren’t what we, as Americans, should expect. Yet, here we are.
Indeed, it’s not just corruption around elections and post-election scandalizing that is rampant in Washington today:
Read More: New: Unearthed Video Provides Smoking Gun for Adam Schiff’s Alleged Mortgage Fraud
Biden Aide Annie Tomasini Takes the Fifth, Comer Rips Into ‘Pattern’ by Biden Staffers
This is the Deep State. This is American politics in the 21st century. It can’t continue – or we won’t continue.
I won’t compare Donald Trump to Cincinnatus, even though he did leave a literal lifestyle of the rich and famous to serve his country, to engender the hatred of people who fawned over him until that day in 2015 when he rode down a golden escalator to announce his run for the presidency as a Republican – an unforgivable sin as far as the left is concerned. Trump may be more aptly compared to the Gracchi, two Roman brothers who pursued a populist platform. Among their efforts, for example, was land reform, including dividing up land owned by Rome among the nation’s poor to be worked as individual farms. The Gracchi, we might note, were both assassinated by their enemies. (Sound familiar?)
Teri Christoph, in her excellent account, concludes:
None of this will come as a surprise to anyone who’s been paying attention, but it’s gratifying to know that it doesn’t end with the declassification of the documents. Per Gabbard, “I am providing all documents to the Department of Justice to deliver the accountability that President Trump, his family, and the American people deserve.”
We can only hope this is correct. We can only hope that this event is exposed, publicized, and that the malefactors in it are charged and brought to justice. It may be the only thing, now, that might save our republic. We cannot tolerate corruption in elections or in government. If we learn nothing from Rome, we should learn that.
These people must be brought to account. We, the taxpayers, the voters, the citizens, are owed that much.
Editor’s Note: The Deep State is working overtime to subvert President Trump’s agenda and the will of the people.
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