What in the world is “patrimonialism”?
In a recent Atlantic essay, Jonathan Rauch argues that Trump’s approach to governance isn’t classic authoritarianism, autocracy, oligarchy, or monarchy. Instead, Trump is installing what scholars call patrimonialism. (I’m evidently not much of a scholar, because that’s a term I had never previously encountered. Live and learn…)
Rauch began by describing what we’ve all seen:
Since taking office, he has reduced his administration’s effectiveness by appointing to essential agencies people who lack the skills and temperaments to do their jobs. His mass firings have emptied the civil service of many of its most capable employees. He has defied laws that he could just as easily have followed (for instance, refusing to notify Congress 30 days before firing inspectors general). He has disregarded the plain language of statutes, court rulings, and the Constitution, setting up confrontations with the courts that he is likely to lose. Few of his orders have gone through a policy-development process that helps ensure they won’t fail or backfire—thus ensuring that many will.
In foreign affairs, he has antagonized Denmark, Canada, and Panama; renamed the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America”; and unveiled a Gaz-a-Lago plan. For good measure, he named himself chair of the Kennedy Center, as if he didn’t have enough to do.
Rauch cites to scholarship that locates the origin of the term in the writings of Max Weber–he of the Protestant ethic.
Weber explored the issue of legitimacy. What elements of leadership support an individual’s claim to rightful rule? According to Weber, there are two avenues to such legitimacy. One is “bureaucratic proceduralism”– a system in which following the rules and norms of institutions bestows legitimacy,. That, of course, is the system Americans have taken for granted. It’s why Presidents, federal officials, and military inductees swear their oath to the Constitution, not to a person.
The other source of legitimacy is more ancient, more common, and more intuitive—“the default form of rule in the premodern world,” Hanson and Kopstein write. “The state was little more than the extended ‘household’ of the ruler; it did not exist as a separate entity.” Weber called this system “patrimonialism” because rulers claimed to be the symbolic father of the people—the state’s personification and protector. Exactly that idea was implied in Trump’s own chilling declaration: “He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.”
In his day, Weber thought that patrimonialism was on its way to history’s scrap heap. Its personalized style of rule was too inexpert and capricious to manage the complex economies and military machines that, after Bismarck, became the hallmarks of modern statehood. Unfortunately, he was wrong.
As Rauch explains, patrimonialism isn’t a systematic approach to governing; instead, it is “a style of governing,” replacing rule-based, formal lines of authority with highly personalized ones based on loyalty to an individual. It’s a “system” of rewarding the leader’s friends and punishing his enemies. (Think about how “governance” works in tribes, street gangs, and criminal organizations.)
In government, it’s running the state “as if it were the leader’s personal property or family business.”
The difference between patrimonialism and autocracy is the former’s disdain for bureaucracy, because bureaucratic rules and processes might obstruct the “dear leader’s” desired actions.
People with expertise, experience, and distinguished résumés are likewise suspect because they bring independent standing and authority. So patrimonialism stocks the government with nonentities and hacks, or, when possible, it bypasses bureaucratic procedures altogether. When security officials at USAID tried to protect classified information from Elon Musk’s uncleared DOGE team, they were simply put on leave. Patrimonial governance’s aversion to formalism makes it capricious and even whimsical—such as when the leader announces, out of nowhere, the renaming of international bodies of water or the U.S. occupation of Gaza.
Rauch points out that Trump is patrimonialism “perfect organism.” He’s unable to distinguish between public and private, legal and illegal, national and personal. As John Bolton, Trump’s first-term national security advisor, said “He can’t tell the difference between his own personal interest and the national interest, if he even understands what the national interest is.”
Patrimonialism has two fatal flaws: incompetence and corruption, and Rauch spends much of the essay documenting the evidence of both. It is well worth your time to click through and read in its entirety, especially since most observers–including this one–have been fixated on the incompetence and insanity, and only vaguely aware of the copious corruption. As Rauch reminds us, however, corruption is the real Achilles’ heel, because it’s understandable– not an abstraction like “democracy” or “Constitution” or “rule of law.”
The resistance needs to focus on it.
Well of course!
This is just Feudalism, where the land barons, those that lived in the castle, were the father figure to all those in his Feifedom.
The landowners rules, the landowners law, the landowners punishment, the landowner’s magnanimous rulings. The next Castle over could be completely the opposite. Interestingly, most of these were loyal to the church! And the church dictated the direction these mini’me lackey’s would take in loyalty! And that would be loyalty to the church. The church actually controlled those who were fighting for these feudal lords, so they were in charge. And that’s why supposedly folks were abandoning Europe for the America’s and getting away from the religious freedom. Unfortunately, not much changed once they got here. They still wanted a king, and they still had the church ruling the roost. Even today with the supposed separation of church and state, the feudalist oligarchs and the church are reforming the state into a bunch of Feifedoms.
Go back and revisit the history classes you all took in high school or college, and you’ll see this is exactly what is meant in the article. Nothing new, just called something a little bit different. Except it portends to a great evil and wrathful time in society. Exactly what we see brewing today!
Sorry,
Abandoning the religious feifdoms for the Americas! Only to bring the same things here.
Keeping it simple: Trump has ALWAYS screwed up everything he’s touched. ALWAYS. How does somebody bankrupt casinos when the population of suckers is so huge, for example?
Now, the lazy, irresponsible registered voters who didn’t vote have to answer for the wrecking ball they’ve allowed to happen. I hope they are so proud of themselves for ignoring their civic duty to the country, for disrespecting all those who died defending the Constitution against fascism and tyranny and for thumbing their noses at a most capable woman candidate.
This is a perfect example of how prejudice, bigotry coupled with ignorance destroys a democracy.
It’s a little too elitist for me. I’ve always focused on corruption because it is inherent in our society. A moral compass is just preached about with words used for effect. I was very naive when I started writing, but my investigative journalism skills took me to places that smashed that naivety. State politics would be different, but it’s the same as local—ditto for federal. Corruption is the rule, rather than the exception.
I used to think the dark underworld operated off the grid, but it is woven into society. One look into Epstein’s little black book, which crosses into the global elite, billionaires, crooked politicians, CEOs, intelligence, mobsters, etc.
I was watching a video late last night about stablecoins and the Federal Reserve, or what they called the “digital grid.” They (Musk and Thiel) want to eliminate cash and replace it with a digital ID for each person where value is added and taken away, but done so completely online, versus $cash$. Trump is a patsy and can’t even explain it, but he’s profiting from it already. His own company was set up first to benefit from this blockchain concept. Of course!
As Sheila’s article confirms, the Dear Leader does not know the difference between personal and country interests. There is no collective thought—only MEism. His ego claims, “If it’s good for me, then it is good for the country.”
Also, if you oppose Dear Leader, you are an enemy of the country.
Supposedly, Trump signed a deal with Zelenskyy over extracting Ukraine’s minerals. However, Keir Starmer had already signed an agreement for the minerals in exchange for the UK’s financial support. What now?
Lastly, when Dear Leader took office in January, he claimed the economy was his, not Biden’s. As the market crashes in May, he blames Biden instead of owning it himself. That’s how denial works to protect the EGO.
Hitler knew and understood propaganda. He knew the difference between truth and his ministry of propaganda. Dear Leader cannot differentiate the truth from propaganda. He has no self-awareness. He cannot learn from his past mistakes because they are not his mistakes. If it turns out badly, he blames someone else. Sadly for us, he’s surrounded by people who are the same, if not worse.
While some here place the blame for where the country is at this time on the people who didn’t vote, or on a political party that failed to read the room, or the dirty campaign run by the opposition, I’m with David Brooks on this matter. He wrote today in the New York Times, “We came to a spot in 2024 in which 77 million Americans took a look at Trump’s moral character and didn’t have a problem with what they saw.”
“Form of government in which all power flows from the leader…
Patrimonialism is a form of governance in which the ruler governs on the basis of personal loyalties which are derived from patron-client relations, personal allegiances, kin ties and combinations thereof. Patrimonialism is closely related to corruption, opportunism and machine politics. It can contribute to underdevelopment and weak state capacity.” Wikipedia (my AI)
The definition of “patrimonialism” appears obvious at first glance; the foundation is in “nepotism” as Trump evidenced in his first term. His sons are still in active positions of power in this second term but out of the public eye. “patrimonialism” extends to friends and “family” as referred to within the mafia system in Trump’s perversion of the federal administration by appointing the weakest members of his herd of followers who are at his command. His first sacrificial act, the day after his 100th Day, is not the person who caused the security leak in the Signal system; leaving the true culprit in command to communicate via social media which weakens our entire Security system from the inside. No need for hackers; simply look for the Hegseth contacts on the Internet. Waltz must still be of some value to Trump’s Patrimonialism based administration or he would be gone…like so many others in Term One’s revolving door system where the foundation of destruction of the Constitution was first laid…called “footings” in construction. Trump is well on his way to constructing his personal dictatorship and building his Trump Dynasty at our expense. His first and most loyal Court Jester (dancing with a huge chainsaw and wearing a huge cheese hat) is Elon Musk, touted as the “wealthiest man on earth”, but his hold is slipping as his billions fall away. He seems to be pulling back from total Trump subjection and Trump appears to be seeking excuses for lessening Musk’s control of the bogus DOGE department created for Musk’s control.
“Patrimonialism has two fatal flaws: incompetence and corruption,…” But can democracy, Rule of Law, the Constitution and American citizens survive until those who sit mute and idle become aware of their part in stopping the public Trump/MAGA coup which may end in Trump’s promised “blood in the streets” if he loses his control.
The difference between trump’s first and second terms in office have to do with the people he brought in to make up his administration. The first time around an attempt was made – not a particularly good attempt, but an attempt nonetheless – to bring into cabinet and other administration posts people who had at least a semblance of knowledge or expertise with regards to the position they were filling. The second and current, time around we are witnessing a rather complete lack of any expertise – ok, Pam Bondi was Florida AG, and Marco Rubio does have some foreign or at let government background – but with one overarching characteristic, in spades: loyalty to trump. That trumps everything else (pardon the pun) and along with the firing of just about everyone familiar with and good at what they do with mostly unbiased reliability, and destructive chaos has predictably ensued. Worst 100 days in history, period.
Theresa, there is that … BUT we’ve been down this road before. There are ALWAYS 25% – 30% who would vote for Satan himself, because that’s with whom they identify – for one reason or another. Those 77 million Trump voters would vote for him if he ran against Jesus himself. I met those voters in Texas, and they’re everywhere. Which goes back to my point about social ignorance and Todd’s comment about ME-ism.
im more worried about the “not” conversation. kirk,thiel,vought,and their henchpeople. the corp heads of trumps takeover. too much manure is spread about trump,his face,voice,holding some pedistal to,keep from falling over. as a corp chief idiot hes commanded by congress to act like his foolself, while passing out the work to his minions.the intelligence of those i worry far more about. the new blackouthouse has denied comment to left wing,middle of the road news on various subjetcs,while theology is news on POX like medias.all which means alot to the rest of us peons who still read the news and add rebutes to the rightwing takeover,s. trumps demon seeds are hard at work securing mid east lux talks with saudis etc. (finding saudis wanting to be more white)im sure the litter of trumps cave are taking lessons on how enslave help and women. while thinking about how it could be made in style here in America. there would be some relief from trumps penile self if the media,all of it would just cut his voice off do the issue in near english from tallented news people and photo shop his knuckles instead of his face. enjoy your corp tariff coffee.
If just one of his minions stands up and calls out the corruption in the administration, I probably would have a heart attack, but would be worth it. First, they’re all participating in the corruption. Second, they are all cowards, willing to be deemed sycophants in order to stay in the dear leader’s good graces.
It seems that a great deal of effort is being invested in finding the most accurate word to describe why Trump is unfit to govern. There must be folks who think that is important.
I am not particularly intellectual, but it strikes me that what unites us can be expressed as a long and deeply held acceptance that Musk, Trump, and Vance, MTV, are unfit to rule.
None of those apples fell in any direction but straight down from their respective trees.
We have to replace them as soon as and as surely as possible.
The consequences of inept governance are growing daily and impacting more and more lives here and there and everywhere. That dissatisfaction is growing. Some communities already know the specifics that the community can do to restore capable people to government.
Our power comes from organization. Lead, follow, or get out of the way.
The quote from John Bolton is spot-on. Trump’s megalomaniacal self is all about Trump, and he cares about nothing else, no constitution, no imposed rules; clown for the fools, make them laugh at the common “enemies,” and roll on!
The parallel is just right, the Trump crowd governs as do “tribes, street gangs, and criminal organizations.” In Trump’s case too, there is the concomitant self love, on display often enough, but sickening in this week’s “cabinet meeting” when all assembled spoke directly to Trump about how wonderful, successful, terrific, etc. he has been during his first 100 days. David Brooks describes the atmosphere around Trump as “pagan,” echoing the values of Ancient Rome: power, manliness, conquest, ego, fame, competitiveness and prowess and, as Brooks says, these are at the core of Trump’s being, “from his real estate grandiosity to his love of pro wrestling to his king-of-the-jungle versions of American greatness.” Self love is the only form of love he knows.
His insanity is taking more and more destructive ways to restructure everything that makes America, American. Renaming the Gulf of Mexico, adding states to our 50 by violence if he can’t buy other countries, removing African-American History from the Smithsonian, removing Black and women military records from Arlington Cemetery and the Pentagon, now renaming Veteran’s Day, demanding a new Air Force One to be built or renovate another plane, end birthright citizenship, deport immigrants and American citizens, destroying the nation’s economy which is spreading around the globe, planning a $92 MILLION military parade to celebrate his ego, selling his personal picture coins to increase his personal wealth and offering dinner with him for an amount he finds acceptable.
None of this has anything to do with politics or any political party and he has placed the most highly INcompetent people in his administration to ruin – NOT RUN – this country. WHY CAN NO ONE STOP HIM? HE IS ONE OLD WHITE MAN AND A CONVICTED FELON AND RAPIST. Give him and his system any name you want; I won’t use the language about him or the best way to be totally rid of him forever that is going through my head. There are more of his wrong-doing than those I could think of right now but you know the ones I have forgotten. There must be a way to stop him; we have watched other counties stop such as him,
I will probably regret not deleting this after I send it; don’t want to lose my place on this blog as it is most days now my only salvation.
Donny Two Dolls. You gotta love Lawrence O’Donnell.
Vernon, Donnie2🪆
I think trump knows most of Americans wouldn’t approve of all he’s doing behind the scenes and in the open, and that’s why he obfuscates, lies and projects. He works at dominating and projecting his strong man image while calculating how to extract power and money from every move.
His disdain for the rule of law and his greed are causing chaos, fear and negative outcomes in reality.
Congress needs to take its pledge to the US constitution seriously, without fear or favor and use its power to back off the overreach of Potus. We the people are vested in continuing on a course of democracy preserving our freedoms and facing facts to make a better future for everyone.
This isn’t good, some people are not going to like the negativity. You’ve got banks being shut down left and right, some claim it’s because these banks don’t like the right wingers, but that’s ridiculous! Because right wingers are running the banks. Now they claim it’s technical difficulty. People are recognizing the handwriting on the wall! They are starting to withdraw their money. Although that won’t do much good, and gold won’t be worth anything either. There will not be any cash anymore. You’ll have Donald Trump’s picture on any money floating around out there, and The Doge click will have their pictures on symbolic money, because it’s even more symbolic than the paper cash. They can then manipulate immense piles of currency! All the while, everyone else is going to be pecking around The areas where they live looking for something to eat.
A singular male ruler of the world with all his little male Lords and fifes doing his bidding. It’s hard for me to see that actually being successful with the amount of weapons in the private sector. Eventually, there will be retaliation. Were this all is heading is not a good place. And people who don’t like negativity, are going to be looking for that foxhole to hide in!
Thank you for an easily understood explanation.
Thank you for doing this, it is important to so many.
John Sorg: Please provide the data to support your claim “You’ve got banks being shut down left and right, “