I should not read Aristotle's Politics when I am still mightily pissed off and disheartened by the going on's of American politics. On Monday, money once more prevailed over justice, democracy and common sense. And now we are all stuck with a tyrant. To those who say 'it's just for four years', I pray you are right, because there is very little preventing Trump from dismission of the four year rule altogether.

People like Trump are not a rarity. the ancient Hellens knew them ery well. Politics (Πολιτικά) was written in the 4th-century BC by Hellenic philosopher Aristotle. It is a work of political philosophy and in it, Aristotle defines a tyrant:

"A tyrant, as has often been repeated, has no regard to any public interest, except as conducive to his private ends; his aim is pleasure." [Politics Book 5 Part 10]

"The idea of a king is to be a protector of the rich against unjust treatment, of the people against insult and oppression. Whereas a tyrant, as has often been repeated, has no regard to any public interest, except as conducive to his private ends; his aim is pleasure, the aim of a king, honor. Wherefore also in their desires they differ; the tyrant is desirous of riches, the king, of what brings honor. And the guards of a king are citizens, but of a tyrant mercenaries." [Politics Book 5 Part 10]

"As of oligarchy so of tyranny, the end is wealth; (for by wealth only can the tyrant maintain either his guard or his luxury)." [Politics Book 5 Part 10]
 
"From democracy tyrants have borrowed the art of making war upon the notables and destroying them secretly or openly, or of exiling them because they are rivals and stand in the way of their power; and also because plots against them are contrived by men of this class, who either want to rule or to escape subjection." [Politics Book 5 Part 10]

Aristotle’s definition of tyranny:

"For tyranny is a kind of monarchy which has in view the interest of the monarch only." [Politics Book 3 Part 7]
Another quote I have found particularly striking:
 
"History shows that almost all tyrants have been demagogues who gained the favor of the people by their accusation of the notables. At any rate this was the manner in which the tyrannies arose in the days when cities had increased in power." [Politics Book 5 Part 10]

So how should it be? People should live in liberty. They should be ruled fairly, justly, pay taxes and be part of the whole for the betterment of all. As Aristotle puts it:
 
"One principle of liberty is for all to rule and be ruled in turn." [Politics Book 6 Part 2]
 
"The majority must be supreme, and that whatever the majority approve must be the end and the just. Every citizen, it is said, must have equality." [Politics Book 6 Part 2]
 
"A man should live as he likes. This, they say, is the privilege of a freeman, since, on the other hand, not to live as a man likes is the mark of a slave. This is the second characteristic of democracy, whence has arisen the claim of men to be ruled by none, if possible, or, if this is impossible, to rule and be ruled in turns; and so it contributes to the freedom based upon equality." [Politics Book 6 Part 2]

So what do we have to look forward to, according to Aristotle?

"(1) [T]he humiliation of his subjects; he knows that a mean-spirited man will not conspire against anybody; (2) the creation of mistrust among them; for a tyrant is not overthrown until men begin to have confidence in one another; … (3) the tyrant desires that his subjects shall be incapable of action, for no one attempts what is impossible, and they will not attempt to overthrow a tyranny, if they are powerless." [Politics Book 5 Part 11]
 
"The people, having to keep hard at work, are prevented from conspiring. The Pyramids of Egypt afford an example of this policy; also the offerings of the family of Cypselus, and the building of the temple of Olympian Zeus by the Peisistratidae, and the great Polycratean monuments at Samos; all these works were alike intended to occupy the people and keep them poor." [Politics Book 5 Part 11]
 
"The tyrant is also fond of making war in order that his subjects may have something to do and be always in want of a leader." [Politics Book 5 Part 11]
 
Yes, I am worried. But keep in mind: tyrants can be overthrown. Power, always, is in the hands of the people.