Poor, rich Donald. ADVERTISING Poor, rich Donald. No matter how outrageously Donald Trump behaves, he cannot conceal his obvious needs. He so wants to be admired. He so wants to be taken seriously by the people who matter to him.
Poor, rich Donald.
No matter how outrageously Donald Trump behaves, he cannot conceal his obvious needs. He so wants to be admired. He so wants to be taken seriously by the people who matter to him. He so wants to be a leader. He so wants to be more than the bloviating, braggart, bully he is. But he just cannot get out of his own way. It’s sad, really.
Sure, he looks like the certain eventual presidential nominee of the Republican Party he has taken over by bluffing his way to the top. But when he gets there, he will still find no respect. Even if he achieves the presidency, he still will not find the validation he always craves.
Watching Donald Trump address his crowds, it is striking how frequently he asks them whether they love him. “Don’t we have fun?” “Isn’t a Trump rally great?” “Isn’t this exciting?” “Did you see how far ahead I am in the latest polls?”
Looking carefully, you realize that Trump learned his campaign persona from his experience with WWE, World Wrestling Entertainment. The braggadocio, the strutting stroll to the podium, the chanting, the whipping up of the fervor of the crowd, the adoration of the fans, the unreal challenges hurled to his “enemies,” it all comes directly from professional wrestling. Trump was involved directly with WWE in 2007 when he pursued a “feud” with its president Vince McMahon that was as fake as is pro wrestling itself. Trump loved it all and, apparently, he concluded that national politics is essentially the same sort of thing.
But it is not.
Political bouts are not pre-arranged. There are no clear-cut heroes and villains in politics. The content of politics is not simply who can insult or blindside or pin whom. The outcomes of political conflicts will directly affect public welfare. It is not just for bragging rights.
Further, if or when Donald Trump wins his goal of the U.S. Presidency, he will discover himself abysmally unprepared for the job. He will certainly then do what he has always done — immediately hire sycophants to do the actual work and to assure him of his “greatness.” He will have to do whatever it takes to maintain and burnish his “winner” facade, regardless of its actual cost to our country.
Trump excels at surrounding himself with the trappings of what the lower and middle classes assume to be success: fancy clothes and cars, attractive women, private airplanes and yachts, multiple estates with pretentious or eponymous names, and a dismissive air around others of a lesser ilk. Of course, people who are actually successful or actually well-off know all too well how hollow these things are. The trophies are mere symbols, not actual accomplishments in themselves.
That is why Trump is likely to tire quickly of the presidency. The constant criticism, the hard decisions, the arduous time schedule, the relentless crises will all take their toll. Trump is unlikely to enjoy much of it other than the adulation and the occasional state dinners. Further, he will soon discover being the top Republican is no picnic either.
Here we have a tragedy in the making. A man who desperately aspires to a status that is so far beyond him that he does not even suspect his own inadequacy. If he fails to gain the office, he will have to endure a bitter defeat. If he does somehow become president, he will have to face the bitter defeat of being a failed president. In either case, the failure will be unavoidable and personally crushing to one of the world’s biggest egos.
John Sucke lives in Waimea after having worked for 30 years as an entertainment attorney in New York City.
