A banner featuring President Trump on the outside of the DOJ building in Washington, D.C.

(AMHERST, MASS.) Thomas Hobbes took a very dim view of rebels and insurrectionists. He believed that insurrectionists relinquish their status as citizens the moment they seek to overthrow the government and should never be rewarded for doing so.

Hobbes, one of the finest political theorists of his time, said this in his great political treatise, “Leviathan,” published in 1651 during a civil war in England and Scotland.

Originally published on theconversation.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.