American Idol
Trump's main character syndrome
President Trump’s obsession with celebrating himself is characteristic of personalist leaders. It’s also a clear sign he doesn’t deserve the praise he demands.
Before President Trump took office the first time—according to a 2017 profile by Maggie Haberman, Glenn Thrush, and Peter Baker—he “told his top aides to think of each presidential day as an episode in a television show in which he vanquishes rivals.” It is at the same time a brilliant media strategy and the expression of a severe personality disorder. He’s producing his presidency the same way he produced The Apprentice. The spectacle he manufactures with the power of his office is enough to drown out all competing programs. In the fictional world he presents, Trump is undefeated; he is the glorious hero of America.
Trump has always been obsessed with putting his name and image on things. It’s not just the properties he developed or licensed his name to—the Trump Towers, Hotels, Golf Clubs, and Casinos—but also Trump University, Trump Steaks, Trump Vodka, Trump Ice, and the Trump Shuttle. Now as president he has added his name to the United States Institute of Peace and the Kennedy Center (although a federal judge ruled that he has to remove his name from the Kennedy Center); offered to unfreeze billions of dollars of funding on the Hudson Tunnel Project if Democrats agree to rename Penn Station and Dulles Airport after him; and told the Washington Commanders he wants their new stadium named in his honor. He has hung enormous banners of his glowering face on government buildings across Washington, DC and put up signs thanking himself on construction sites across the city. His administration plans to put his image on both sides of a commemorative coin, on a new $250 bill, and inside passports for the country’s 250th anniversary. He even had a 22-foot-tall golden statue of himself installed at the Trump National Doral Miami golf course. Before Trump was president, he marketed himself as a successful businessman; now he markets himself as our literal savior.
Trump is not the first egomaniac to run a country. Personalist regimes, in which political power is concentrated in the hands of a leader, are on the rise globally. Trump is just a florid example of a one type of personalist leader; his governing instincts are similar in many ways to those of Hugo Chavez, Saddam Hussein and Kim Jong Un. The sociologist Max Weber distinguished three ideal types of political authority: 1) traditional, 2) legal, and 3) charismatic.1 Traditional authority derives from the leader’s place in a traditional hierarchy like a hereditary monarchy; legal authority derives from modern rules and institutional processes like elections; charismatic authority derives directly from the leader’s perceived special personal characteristics. Charismatic leaders are prophets, warlords, and demagogues. They lead not by virtue of traditional norms or modern rules, but in spite of them; they flourish where norms and rules are weak or breaking down. They portray themselves as heroes and demand loyalty above all because their power depends largely on the devotion of their followers.
But reality shows are not reality. The extravagant tributes to Trump don’t reflect some broad popular demand to honor him. His real accomplishments as president mostly range from underwhelming to imaginary. In spite of his almost total control of the Republican Party, his net approval is currently -23. Just 9% of Americans say it’s acceptable to name government buildings after him while he’s still in office. In any case, the accomplishments of even the greatest president wouldn’t merit the fawning praise Trump claims to deserve. It’s simply easier for him to celebrate his own imagined accomplishments than to accomplish anything, easier to declare a victory than to actually win one. Praising himself is just his latest pitch; he’s selling Trump steaks to American voters.
Trump is turning America into his personal vanity project. No country should be devoted to gratifying the ego of one man. The truth is that anyone who demands the world revolve around him probably isn’t really concerned with the needs of others. In fact, of course, Trump is not just putting his name and image on everything. He’s also using his office to enrich himself and his cronies at our expense on an unprecedented scale. In the process, he’s corroding the laws and institutions that protect and empower us. But we don’t have to accept the story Trump tells. He can portray himself as a hero, but it’s not a convincing show.
Thank you for supporting Telling the Future! I recently talked with University of Toronto political science professor Seva Gunitsky about the rise of personalist regimes around the world. Related posts include “New Year, New World Order,” “American Totalitarianism,” and “The End of an Era.” Angry screeds don’t write themselves, so please consider supporting my work by becoming a paid subscriber—and please share it with others!
Excellent comparison with Saddam Hussein.
As a dedicated narcissist, it's only natural that Trump would portray himself as a magnificent example of manhood and leadership, but he can only carry on with that project with the connivance of a supine Congress. Every member of that allegedly-august body, on both sides, knows full well that the golden/orange emperor has absolutely no clothes, yet the Republicans continue to allow him to indulge his destructive fantasies. What disorder (other than cowardice and/or greed) expalins this utter lack of adherence to their oath to our Constitution?