It is incredible that Donald Trump is within reach of the presidency. You would think that by now his lies, insults, unpaid bills, bankruptcies and contempt for bourgeois decorum would have disqualified him in the minds of a majority of voters.
But no. Trump just may win. Why? Well, the quality of the Democratic opposition is part of the explanation. But let’s look beyond Hillary Clinton’s limitations and genius for generating bad publicity.
Trump voters repeatedly say they admire The Donald because he “is not a politician” and “tells it like it is.” It is true he is not a politician. He behaves like no major-party presidential nominee in our history, thriving on conflict and controversy, recasting his disasters as triumphs.
[Debate setback provokes Donald Trump to air gripes]
Past presidents made a distinction between public and private. Many had pieces of their lives they didn’t want their fellow Americans to know about. John Tyler married a woman 30 years his junior and did not tell the public of his marital plans — did not tell most of his children from his first marriage — until after he said, “I do.” Woodrow Wilson, while in the White House, began seeing a Washington widow after his wife died. Warren Harding took a mistress in Ohio before becoming a senator and president. Franklin Roosevelt had polio; he also had a long-time lover. John Kennedy had Addison’s disease, an endocrine disorder, back problems and a string of sexually compliant women who kept him busy in the White House and on the road.
While other presidents hid their sex lives and their health issues, Trump brags about his sexual equipment and alleged exceptional health. What does he hide? His tax returns — and, when he can, his business failures.
Politicians offers policies and programs. Trump isn’t about policies or programs, and when he talks about them he frequently revises himself (as he did on tax reform), leaving his plans muddled. He prefers slogans to ideas (“Build the Wall,” “Make America Great Again”) because of their bumper-sticker simplicity. A politician at least knows how to feign humility; Trump, facing a moment calling for humility, dials up the hubris.
As for the belief that Trump “tells it like it is,” the evidence is voluminous to the contrary. Fact checkers have found fiction in dozens of his statements about the state of the economy, foreign affairs, military matters and his rivals. His assertion that Hillary Clinton authored the rumor that President Barack Obama was not born an American citizen may be the most outrageous, but in 2000, Fortune Magazine noted his “astonishing ability to prevaricate.” Prevaricate is a Park Avenue word for lie. Fortune provided examples of his lying, including: “When he says his casino company is the ‘largest employer in the state of New Jersey,’ he actually means to say it is the eighth largest.”
In his best seller “The Art of the Deal,” Trump said, “I play to people’s fantasies …” He certainly was right — but should have added that he plays to his fantasies about himself, endlessly expanding his achievements, expertise and wealth.
[Trump’s empire: A maze of debts and opaque ties]
Trump’s adoring audiences believe Trump “tells it like it is” because he gives audience members what already is in their heads, the beliefs and attitudes they already have developed — about immigrants, trade agreements, national security, jobs gone overseas, political correctness and Hillary Clinton. Trump does not inform his voters; he, brilliantly alas, validates them. This goes far beyond telling people what they want to hear; it’s telling people what they have heard many times and unshakably believe.
Conventional arguments about Trump’s truthfulness, integrity and ignorance of the world have failed to drive his voters from him. As long as Trump validates his crowds, he can say anything he wants. Trump supporters, interviewed after his erratic performance debating Clinton Monday night, dismissed his missteps and misstatements as of no consequence.
In a sense, Trump is similar to the leader of a cult whose followers consistently reconcile internal contradictions and external criticism through unbending devotion to the leader.
A leader like Trump really is not someone who governs, an executive, an administrator, a legislator. He imposes his will on people, some of whom submit voluntarily, others as a result of coercion. The triumph of the will, noisily celebrating its own glory, is both his method and his goal.
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