American Caesarism examines whether the United States faces risks similar to those that transformed the Roman Republic into an autocracy under Julius Caesar—namely, the concentration of power in a single charismatic leader who claims to embody the popular will while circumventing traditional institutional constraints. During Donald Trump’s presidency, scholars and commentators invoked this framework to analyze his norm-breaking behavior: his attacks on judicial independence, attempts to personalize executive agencies, rejection of electoral outcomes, and cultivation of direct loyalty from supporters over institutional allegiance.

The Neukom Center for the Rule of Law and the Constitutional Law Center welcome Gregg Nunziata, the Executive Director of the Society for the Rule of Law, to expand on this concept and his article in the Atlantic The Age of American Caesarism.