Shortly after Donald Trump was inaugurated as president of the United States in January 2017, George Orwell’s 1949 novel Nineteen Eighty-Four shot to the top of Amazon’s bestseller list.

Apparently, lots of people thought Orwell had something relevant to say in that political moment.

Nearly eight years later, the United States once again faces the prospect of a Trump presidency.

In 2016, many Americans were caught off guard by Trump’s win, leading them to grapple with the potential consequences of a Trump presidency only after he was elected.

But this time, more people seem to be thinking about the ramifications of such an outcome in advance.

In my work as a professor of philosophy and law, I’ve spent a lot of time studying Orwell’s writing. I think people were correct eight years ago to conclude that Orwell could provide insight into a Trump presidency.

Here are three such insights that I think are useful for Americans to keep in mind as they prepare to vote for their next president.

In his 1945 essay Notes on Nationalism, Orwell distinguishes between the terms nationalism and patriotism.

For Orwell, nationalism was “the habit of identifying oneself with a single nation or other unit, placing it beyond good and evil and recognising no other duty than that of advancing its interests”.

He was quick to point out that this was distinct from the concept of patriotism, which he defined as “devotion to a particular place and a particular way of life, which one believes to be the best in the world but has no wish to force on other people”.

To understand Orwell’s conception of patriotism, I find it useful to consider an analogy.

Many parents think that their kids are the best kids in the world.

This doesn’t mean that they........

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