Whatever his reading habits might be, someone at some point in his life must have told him about Nicolo Machiavelli. The Italian diplomat and writer is best known today for his book The Prince, which many people associate with the concept "divide and conquer."
In The Prince, written in 1513, Machiavelli discusses ways in which the ruler of a government, whom he calls simply "a prince," might govern his land, offering different approaches to princes who have come to power in various ways, from the affirmation of his people to crookedness and villainy. (What might he have thought of an ex-host of a wretched TV "reality" show?) Sorry, digressing again.
He does have some blanket suggestions for all princes:
"A prince ought to have no other aim or thought, nor select anything else for his study, than war and its rules and discipline; for this is the sole art that belongs to him who rules, and it is of such force that it not only upholds those who are born princes, but it often enables men to rise from a private station to that rank." *
That last idea would certainly resound with the unpresident.
Machiavelli's ideal prince is:
"[A man who] deems it necessary in his new principality to secure himself against enemies, to gain friends, to conquer by force or fraud, to make himself beloved and feared by the people, followed and reverenced by the soldiers, to destroy those who can and may injure him, introduce innovations into old customs, to be severe and kind, magnanimous and liberal, suppress the old militia, create a new one, maintain the friendship of kings and princes in such a way that they are glad to benefit him and fear to injure him." **
This ideal prince shows different faces in different situations and speaks with a forked tongue. This is, in a sense, one way of dividing and conquering: set different sides at odds by telling them different "truths."
To the best of my knowledge the actual phrase "divide and conquer" does not appear in the original The Prince. Nor do I believe it to be in his later book, The Art of War.
Machiavelli was a soldier and strategian who knew war, which raged in greater or lesser conflicts all over Europe during his time. Today we're not talking a violent war, although the Clown Prince seems to think of himself as a generalissimo in the war on an invisible enemy (Movie: Superclown vs. The Virus From Outer Wuhan). But I digress yet again.
Machiavelli's ideas can still be applied, not in terms of actual war, but in the ideational struggles of our time: politics, corporate takeovers, stock market shenanigans, more politics.
This we know about the Clown Prince: The press is told one thing, the people another, then both stories are denied. At a public appearance one set of plans is proposed; at a meeting of people who can lend megabucks to a campaign something else is said; governors hear yet another swindle.
Fears about COVID-19 are raised, disputed, then argued some more. Qualified experts are touted, then denigrated when they start telling the truth. We get lie upon lie, hoax upon hoax, disrespect upon disrespect. It's the oldest con trick in the book: Keep your mark off balance.
"Deceive, Inveigle, Obfuscate." I've used that line from "The X-files" elsewhere, but we're seeing it everywhere now as the unpresident pulls out every dirty trick imaginable finagle re-election.
I know I'm preaching to the choir, but shall we not put down our music books and pick up bullhorns?
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