A president who quotes from St Augustine cannot be so bad.
The City of God, bk. XIX.24: A people is an assemblage of reasonable beings bound together by a common agreement as to their objects of love.
This one from XIX.14: But in the family of the just man ... even those who rule serve those whom they seem to command; for they rule not from a love of power, but from a sense of the duty they owe to others — not because they are proud of authority, but because they love mercy.
O'Donovan's book 'Common Objects of Love' explores this connection between community and communication. What keeps a political society together is not necessarily agreement on standpoints but agreement on what they love. This is what creates a common quest.
Anyway, for context read Book 19 of The City of God. It is a lot better than The Art of the Deal.
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