thinking, there is a “secret” to Trump. In a word, the secret is “leadership.” Now, you may or may not like Trump. OK, fine. Such is the case with all great leaders. But there is really no question about the “Alpha dog” aspect of his interaction with others.
We haven’t really had an “Alpha dog” for a long time. Ronald Reagan certainly was one. In fact, he was the greatest one in more than 100 years. Maybe FDR was in the same league. And Eisenhower had a lot of that in him.
But George Bush was certainly not that way. He may have been a good administrator, and the “deep state” rewards that. He was a very competent clerk. And that is indeed quite valuable. But he wasn’t fundamentally a leader.
Bill Clinton was much more of one. He had some severe personal flaws that prevent him from being really effective, but he had that leadership ability. George W. Bush had streaks of it. But he fell back into his father’s “swampy” passivity. He ultimately became mainly an apparatchik.
Obama was more of a leader. Not nearly as much as Ronald Reagan, but there was a good deal of that there. There is simply not much of that with Joe Biden. He has put his energy into personal and family enrichment and aggrandizement. But he never really had that “leader” quality, anyway.
Kamala Harris had probably the least “Leadership” ability of anyone I’ve ever seen in very high public office. She was simply not a person that anyone would want to follow into battle. She was chosen for neither her leadership ability nor her personal attractiveness. Not surprisingly, she was put in that position because of non-leadership and non–person attractiveness reasons. And she was horrible, horrible, horrible!
Indeed, she was “Weighed in the balances and found wanting.” Which is what mindless box-checking gets you.
And now we get to Donald Trump. There are several reasons why you may not like him. And I agree that there are flaws. But also, there is no question that there is strong leadership. And that is quite attractive to voters who have been starving for real leadership for some time.
Look at how he reacted to the assassination attempt where he was clipped in the ear with a bullet. He didn’t crawl up into the fetal position and hide to protect his precious self. No, he stood up, shook his fist, and said, “fight, fight, fight.” And this at a time when there was a big question about whether there was still danger.
That is leadership that is not fake or self-serving. That is leadership that prompts men to follow him into battle. There was no “staging” it. It is indeed part of Trump’s psychological make up. And people lapped it up like a man dying of thirst in the desert who suddenly finds a cold, clear spring.