Abstract

This chapter take its bearings from some important comments made by Leo Strauss and Alexandre Kojève during their debate on tyranny that sheds light on the political predicament besetting America by the ascendancy of Donald Trump as the President of the United States. The chief assertion of the essay can be stated thus: the disagreement between Kojève and Strauss regarding the ills of globalization is less important that their agreement on the need for civility in politics. In the first part, it is argued that for Kojève the “end of history” is only a hypothesis and Trump is judged accordingly. In the second part, it is stated that Strauss was not a defender of the modern nation-state on grounds highlighted by classical ancient Greek philosophy. The idea is advanced that Strauss would have not regarded Trump’s nationalism as a way out of the dilemmas facing the American polity.