King Donald would have made a fine Tudor monarch. Of course the pace of life has picked up since the arrival of instant communications and almost as instant travel; but the priorities remain the same. Top of the list: the acquisition and control of personal/family wealth, the pursuit of personal pleasure and when there’s time, the interests of the state (which for the Tudors included the church).
KD combines wealth and pleasure with his frequent golf weekends, ensuring he patronise’s his own resorts at the state’s expense; and even fits in a few foreign heads of state for informal chats between rounds. And as Henry VIII probably did in the ‘lists’, he makes sure he wins at his chosen sport. A handicap of 3? Aren’t the famous clubs ashamed to publish it?
The Court these days includes his equally wealthy retainers and phalanxes of security staff – so no change there, although KD doesn’t need to drum up funds/support by progressing around the country. The Great American Citizen is kind enough to pay taxes for his disposal, beyond the dreams of avarice.
Shall we call that progress?
Boadicea's Chariot 
Maybe Hen VIII, who started off so popular and rich he could do what he liked, and continued to get his way by doing what most of his ‘power-base’ liked. Maybe also his son Edw VI (had he lived long enough) but would have had problems because, even then, England didn’t like autocratic monarchs. But certainly not the other Tudors who definitely knew (or should have known) about keeping their power base happy…
I have a feeling that if Don the First doesn’t live up to the expectations of his power base his reign will be exceedingly short-lived. And as far as I can tell, getting involved in policing the world wasn’t part of what he promised to his supporters.
Boadicea: Don the One has one great asset: the absolute uselessness of the opposition. The Democrats have not learnt their lessons and are simply doubling-down on the rhetoric that has cost them dearly over the past 6 years.
Christopher – I was going to add that God help the US – because I don’t see that Don’s opposition has learnt anything from their defeat. At least those who opposed the Tudor regime had some idea of what they wanted to replace their policies with.
Boadicea: So far things don’t look good for the Democrats. They’ve not won a single by-election even if the Republicans did all they could in some instances to win them for the Democrats. Many of Trump’s supporters blame Congress, not Trump, for certain policy catastrophes — and rightly so. Many Trump supporters despise establishment Republicans as much as they despise Democrats. Trump is slowly growing slightly more pragmatic and is coming to understand that a government isn’t a corporation. There is another element to this, too: many Republicans dislike Trump. Trump only won the primaries because there were too many viable candidates who campaigned for too long, splitting the anti-Trump vote until it was too late to change the outcome. One must position oneself not at the centre of a country’s political centre, but on one’s party’s political centre. He might lose a few alt-right types, but would assuage the concerns of nervous right-of-centre voters who in the past would have happily supported a Republican.
Don the One! Yes, I think he’d like that! Perhaps we can find a parallel between the Dissolution and Don’s cancellation of various ‘moral’ projects – e.g. against pollution.
I rather like the current Tsar’s minion’s description of the American contingent as ‘primitive and loutish’. Definitely how the continent saw Henry VIII!
One wonders can one still find those expert swordsmen in France for lopping heads? Could be a very useful addition to Washington’s political scene.
Another point to remember, VIII inherited the fullest treasury ever from VII, he squandered the lot! Elizabeth licensed privateers so she could share in the spoils to restore some of the public finances. Plus rampant inflation! How much is King Donald’s revamp of the military and golf rounds going to cost this country? He has a history of bankruptcies, oops!
Worst day’s work ever done in a generation. Such a pity Clinton was the democratic choice, made him look quite good at the time to too many people. Talk about repent at leisure.
King Don reflects Elizabeth’s practice of using privateers to fill his coffers. Contracts around the world.
Janus: This is nothing new. The difference is that Don the One doesn’t try to hide it.
Indeed, but has Don the One gone too far?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/13/ex-british-spy-chief-sir-richard-dearlove-suggests-donald-trump/