Two more quotes:

"9. He became a theatrical stock character of evil

"By the 16th century, Machiavelli’s name had found itself in the English language as an epithet for crookedness.

"In Elizabethan theatre, it came to denote a dramatic type: the incorrigible schemer driven by greed and unbridled ambition."

...

[Note: I keep wondering how Hollywood will portray Trump after this drama is all over - if the Hollywood industry survives his machinations, that is, and if the drama ever ends.]

The last two paragraphs of the article:

"Machiavelli was the first political writer to separate politics from morality, placing great emphasis on practical strategies over philosophical ideas.

"Instead of focusing on what was right or wrong, he considered what needs to be achieved."