Lisbon, May 31, 2026 (Lusa) - Australian historian Don Watson told Lusa in an interview that US President Donald Trump was “a faithful reflection” of American history, moving from a mad tyrant king in 1776 to another currently in the White House.
The historian recently launched “The Shortest History of the United States of America” in Portugal to mark the US’ 250th anniversary.
He spoke to Lusa from Melbourne, Australia, about the US’ current situation and its leader.
Trump “is a chip off the block of US history. I mean, he is the showman, the entrepreneur, the huckster, all of Trump’s greed and venality is part of American society,” Don Watson, who is also the former advisor and counsellor to Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating, said.
The historian considered this a long common thread in American history, noting that even his “crazy psychopathy” had something deeply American about it.
He also noted another characteristic of Trump, which “is his provincialism.”
He said this “expresses that sort of American view of the world” where many citizens are metaphorically “deep sea fish” who “don’t see anything outside, don’t know anything beyond their own world.”
The historian added that "Trump is rather like that and, like American politicians, the political classes, never knew anything but domination. They have never been the junior partner in the alliance."
Trump differs from European countries, Australia, or New Zealand because he “wants to dominate” through “deal making”, which “is an old American practice”, the historian said.
Don Watson said people can find versions of Donald Trump in old American movies from the so-called Golden Age (classic Hollywood cinema from the 1920s to 1960s).
“The mistake is to think that American democracy was sailing along really happily, and then along came Trump, and it sank. Because there have been these danger points in American history,” he said.
Trump is “a different kind of character to the ones we are used to,” he said, noting that the US president’s strength is built on “profaning all that had come before,” from the liberal international order, sacred documents, and respect for institutions to the Declaration of Independence and the refined rhetoric of former US presidents Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln.
The US president "never shows any respect for institutions. In fact, he pulled institutions down and builds one in his own name. So, his profanity is really what thrills the populace because they’re feeling [Barack] Obama’s rhetoric is empty,” Don Watson said.
“The dream is not being delivered” and the institutions “have been taken by these elites, and so on. I think that’s what actually makes him a bit of a fascist, the profanity.”
One of the US Founding Fathers and its first president, George Washington, “thought of people like Trump in his nightmares,” the historian said, noting his farewell address, which another Founding Father, James Madison, actually wrote.
Washington stated in the speech that the nation's success depended on providential guidance and the decent and honest behaviour of institutions, while advocating for political consensus.
The historian concluded that under Trump, “we’ve gone from a mad tyrannical king in 1776 to someone rather like him” presently in the White House.
He praised the intelligence and courage of America's Founding Fathers in facing the British Empire.
Don Watson covers US history from the Declaration of Independence to MAGA (Make America Great Again, Trump's political movement) in the 300-page book, tracking 250 years of upheavals, achievements, and setbacks.
The US came into being on 4 July 1776, when 13 colonies declared independence from Great Britain.
ALU/LYT // ADB.
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