A prince must choose to be conservative or nationalist in their appearance and in their substance. Thus, he has four options to choose from.
The most common type is those who are conservative in both appearance and substance. Speaker Mike Johnson with his Esoteric Ned Flandersism epitomizes this type of prince. He is exactly what he seems, a hapless, well-intentioned goober who makes for an excellent neighbor but an incompetent advocate. This is a dishonorable path to choose as it will ruin the country. Neither is it wise, for if one wanted fame one could be a podcaster, and if one wanted money one could pursue private business. And while it offered power in the past, the system that granted that power to useful losers has become unsustainable.
The most praiseworthy type of prince is he who is nationalist (or fascist, authoritarian, patriot or what have you) in both his appearance and substance. Il Duce Mussolini epitomizes this prince: a bombastic, cultured thug who rewarded friends, punished enemies, and did his utmost to Make Italy Roman Again. Such a man inspires loyalty in good men and terror in subversives, for what they see is what they get. Yet this is a difficult and dangerous path to walk.
To be nationalist in appearance and a conservative in substance is the worst option for its immense dishonor is surpassed by its danger. President Trump is the perfect portrait of this type of prince. He suffers all the dangers and difficulties of being a nationalist but with none of the benefits. He triggers the Left without doing them any true harm, thereby disregarding Machiavelli’s advice to treat men generously or to destroy them as they take revenge for slight injuries, for heavy ones they can not. His friends lose confidence in his ability to reward and protect them and his enemies to hurt them. Such a prince becomes both hated as a symbol for what he falsely represents and despised for being weak. Trump has only rebounded from endless self-inflicted problems because the Left is even more incompetent. To reply on the incompetence of others is as dangerous as it is dishonorable, for the competence of others is outside one’s control, and no serious man leaves important matters to a fickle whore like chance.
The most effective prince is he who is conservative in appearance and nationalist in substance. This is epitomized in Elon Musk’s DOGE project. DOGE has used the fifth generation warfare tactics of (de)funding and propaganda to wreck permanent destruction of the Left’s centers of gravity. This has been even more effective than an old-fashioned white terror. DOGE is truly like an Italian doge in character as it has punished Leftist enemies and awarded tax payer friends. They have even spat in the face of cancel culture, thereby granting courage to the Right and demoralizing the Left. And DOGE has accomplished all this under the guise of playful memes and the vanilla Republican talking points of balancing the budget, government oversight, and fiscal responsibility. Perhaps this is dishonest, but a prince who saves his people commits no error.
I have described the four options which a prince has before him and their benefits and detriments, but it is up to him to choose. Yet choose he must, for refusing to choose is to be conservative in both appearance and substance, and thus utterly despicable.
