Hobbes says fear is the main unifying passion:
William of Orange is an example of Machiavellian/Hobbesian themes–fear of Louis XIV & Catholicism crowns him.
De Witt brothers are cannibalized; he takes England with ease.
He rewards his followers for killing his enemies.
& Machiavelli says not to injure enemies, but to kill or maim those enemies so they don't come back–William of Orange did that with the De Witt brothers & Clan MacDonald–& rewarded the people who did it.
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Trump's foreign policy is mostly to take advantage of US allies because he knows US allies won't abandon US protection so long as the enemies are there, and Trump wants to negotiate with the enemies even–this helps with US expansion and solidifying US control over its vassal states.
Nothing is more useful to subjugating your vassals than fear of an enemy.What would NATO be without fear of Russia? Or fear of European countries breaking into world wars without US hegemony?
What would US protection of the Sunni Gulf Monarchies be without fear of the Revolutionary Republican Anti-Monarchy Islamic Shia sect of Iran?
What would South Korea and Japan be without fear of North Korea & China?
USA right now is calling to capture Greenland, because of fear that China or Russia might take it later and offset NATO security.
In my experience, when defeat and the approach of an enemy is extremely close, people are willing to give so much–that is why war propaganda is so effective.
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When did Britain lose colonial America to the American Revolutionaries? –Just after it finally defeated France in colonial America.
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