Authoritarian rulers aren’t new – here’s what Herodotus, an early Greek historian, wrote about them

Darius I of Persia, center, and his court, from a vase painted between 340 and 320 B.C.E., on display at the National Archaeological Museum in Naples. Carlo Raso/ Flickr, CC BY-SA

“No Kings” rallies. “Good Trouble” protests. “Rage against the Regime” uprisings. These events in the first seven months of President Donald Trump’s second term, along with public opinion polls, show that many Americans are concerned about Trump’s expansive use of executive power.

Views on this issue often have a partisan slant. Republicans express more concern about presidential power when Democrats control the White House, and vice versa.