Having read the book at a different time then it is today, gives the book a completely different perspective of the current situation of the world today. Simply based on the performance of political leaders. I found that Machiavelli, through his masterpiece of the prince, shows us the different types of principalities, the types of armies, the political system in Italy, and the characteristics, mannerism, behaviors, and attitudes that create the personality of the prince. Such characteristics, behaviors, and mannerism are tightly connected to what we see in Donald Trump. Machiavelli presents different principalities and different types of armies for a prince that, through a guideline of his own, he recommends the following in order to be a great leader: its better to be stingy than generous, its better to be cruel than merciful, its better to keep promises only if keeping them goes against ones interests, leaders should make themselves hated and despised because the goodwill of the people is a better defense than a fortress, a leader should undertake great projects to lift up his reputation, and finally, a great leader should choose his advisors wisely and avoid those who flatter him. Similarly, in the article by Charles M. Blow on Trumpism Extols its Folk Hero, he says of a governor named Edwin Edwards, that he had achieved what few politicians have, “transcended the political, and on some level even the rules of the workaday world, and entered the astral league of folk heroes.” Continuing to argue that people don’t agree with these politicians and do not compare themselves to them, however, the awful behavior that, including Donald Trump portrays, people prefer to relish it in the folk hero rather than in their own personal lives, and though his supporters are aware of his lying and corruption, to them, its all part of the show and the lore as Blow mentions, “they are allowing in him something that they would not allow in themselves.” Blow affirms that “Trump ascended to folk hero status among the people who like him, and so his lying, corruption, sexism, and grift not only do no damage, they add to his legend…The folk hero, wether real or imaginary, often fights the establishments, often devious, destructive and even deadly ways, and those outside that establishment cheer as the folk hero brings the beast to its knees.” Because we see this clown act, and as blow continues “Trump’s Br’er Rabbit-like ability to avert the best attempt by authorities to hold him accountable, at least for a while, only increases the chorus of applause” his greediness, selfishness, and outbursts to authority is a perfect example of what Machiavelli mentions to be a quality for a leader “better to be stingy than generous and better to be cruel than merciful.” Furthermore, as described in the performance video on how politicians use the belief/make believe “When a politician campaigns is make believe, they have been scripted, rehearsed, presented as make believe, making the voter that what they are saying is the true life… Critics who stick forks in them, who way, this is not true, to show that there is a gap between what the politician says and has said, to make believe that this is the actual social political reality” However, based on the research presented by the article Why facts don’t change our minds, it is imperative to analyze what it is presented “for their beliefs has been totally refuted, people fail to make appropriate revisions I those beliefs” Kolbert says. Kolbert affirms that the studies conducted on “confirmation bias” is a tendency that people have to embrace in order to support their beliefs and reject information that contradicts, “if reason is designed to generate sound judgements, then its hard to conceive of a more serious design flaw than confirmation bias,” but Kolbert then mentions that this leads people to dismiss evidence. Kolbert then goes presents another example by Sloman and Fernabach called “illusion of Explanatory depth” where people believe that they know way more than they actually do, which occurs by the belief of others, a trait in humans through out history meaning that we have always relied on other’s expertise. “As a rule, strong feelings about issues do not emerge from deep understanding… If your position on, say the affordable care act is baseless and I rely on it, then my opinion is also baseless… If we all now dismiss as unconvincing any information that contradicts our opinion, you get, well, the Trump Administration” Kolbert says on the human weakness of the political domain and the experiment of the toilet, as well as the danger of knowledge as community.