By Taki Theodoracopulos
Taki's Magazine
January 16, 2026
Good old Plato, he was a hell of a fellow. I've been reading up on him, and boy, do we ever need people like the ancient one nowadays. Here he is on self-love, a condition that afflicts most politicians and world leaders since time immemorial: "The greatest of all evils, innate in the souls of most human beings, is one that everyone makes an excuse for, in his own case, and makes no effort to avoid."
Nah, I'm not thinking of The Donald, although he would have been a prime example of self-love, but most of Trump's critics, who believe that their way is the way things should be. There are too many to mention-they run in the millions-so I'll name only two creeps, hiding behind their well-cared-for bushes: Has Sulzberger or Newhouse, safe and sound in their luxury penthouses, ever taken the time to think about the suffering they cause to the innocent and law-abiding poor by favoring illegal criminals and other such left-wing shibboleths ? Of course not, their intense self-love precludes self-examination, hence they can look at each other and brag about their liberal stances. And screw those who cannot afford well-guarded luxury penthouses. Old Plato knew a phony when he saw one and concluded that most people are phony as hell.
"Old Plato knew a phony when he saw one and concluded that most people are phony as hell."
This intense self-love, always according to Plato, is the source of all faults; instead, a great man is one who does not cherish his own above the truth but what is just, either in his own actions or indeed in the actions of others. My, my, Plato would not have found too many examples of greatness if he were to come back to us. The other thing I noticed was that he wrote only about men. The little woman was never mentioned. Ouch ! What would #MeToo have to say about the philosopher ? Takimag does not print very dirty words, unlike The New (Dentist) Yorker and Vanity Fair, but Plato could have had and ignored dirty little gossipy glossies in mind thousands of years before they were created by dirty little minds.
Humans have always put their own political spin on events. Throughout history, people have interpreted the world through the lens of their own prejudices and preconceptions. The recent event in Minneapolis is an object lesson in ignorance and seeing only what one believes in. Instead of caution, everyone jumped to the conclusion they wished to be the truth. A woman is dead because of her conviction that her rights were being trampled on. I will leave it up to the reader to decide whether she was right or not, although I am convinced that ICE has every right to evict illegal immigrants and was doing its duty.
See why Plato was so wise ? Self-love convinces us that we are right, and to hell with what others believe to be right. In his Republic he gives us a profound analysis of human political life, emphasizing that the task of political philosophy is to study the way in which a perfect republic can be created. But he adds that unjust men cannot establish a perfect republic. Truer words have never been spoken. Is America a perfect republic ? Can it become one ? Not unless the rhetoric cools off. The escalation demonizing ICE agents doing their duty does not help. Nor do Democrat elected officials and the lefty media that fans the flames of virulent protest. Even after local Somali immigrants had scammed the federal government out of billions, the mayor of Minneapolis (may he Frey in hell) railed against the Trump administration.
Deliberately dividing the nation by spreading lies about events is as insidious and unpatriotic as it gets. Lefty media types do not care. They are out to change the way we think of and perceive events by presenting and reporting them as they see fit. And they will never do otherwise. After fifty years of being a reporter and columnist, this is one opinion that I'm certain about. Take, for example, the Trump-is-Hitler leftist refrain. So lost is the media in its frenzy of Trump Derangement Syndrome, they do not care about facts. Hitler attacked a peaceful and very pleasant country called Poland. The Poles lost 6 million of its citizens, which no one speaks about nowadays. Trump kidnapped a murdering dictator who has enslaved his own people. How can anyone in their right mind compare the two ? Join the Sulzberger and Newhouse crowd and you will have to also.
This article was originally published on Taki's Magazine.