BUT EVEN THEY'VE JUMPED SHIP:

President Donald Trump's former campaign staffers claim they cracked the code for tamping down his most inflammatory tweets, and they say the current West Wing staff would do well to take note.

The key to keeping Trump's Twitter habit under control, according to six former campaign officials, is to ensure that his personal media consumption includes a steady stream of praise. And when no such praise was to be found, staff would turn to friendly outlets to drum some up -- and make sure it made its way to Trump's desk.

"If candidate Trump was upset about unfair coverage, it was productive to show him that he was getting fair coverage from outlets that were persuadable," said former communications director Sam Nunberg. "The same media that our base digests and prefers is going to be the base for his support. I would assume the president would like to see positive and preferential treatment from those outlets and that would help the operation overall."

Tacitus saw that absolutism lay at the heart of the imperial system. To maintain it, the emperor surrounded himself with men who owed loyalty to no one but himself, and over whom he could therefore exert total control. The result was a culture of acquiescence in whatever the emperor wanted, well exemplified by the Roman senator Sallustius Crispus, who fawned that 'the circumstances of imperial rule are such that the accounts will come right only if submitted to the approval of one person'. Everyone knew who that was.

There was another consequence. Tacitus reported that the emperor Vitellius was so ignorant of soldiering that 'he always had to ask someone else'. So disastrous were the results that experienced centurions decided to enlighten him. 'But Vitellius' close advisers kept them away, since the emperor had developed the habit of regarding good advice as disagreeable and listening only to what was pleasing -- and fatal.'

This desire for the pleasing brought in its train the refusal to face facts. When Rome, under Nero, suffered a disastrous defeat in Armenia, the victory trophies which had been prematurely put up were left standing. 'It was appearances that counted; the truth was despised,' said Tacitus. All this added up in his eyes to the corruption of public life on a massive scale.

Tweet   @brothersjudd