The Child-King
Trump has a very childlike view of the world. That much has been clear to many for most of his term and, indeed, his campaign. But it’s a very specific stage of childhood that he seems to be perpetually living in: sometime shortly after the child is introduced to the concept of social hierarchy, but before he’s learned much about their inherent weaknesses or developed a strong sense of empathy or compassion.
Having grown up with privilege certainly influenced him in this mindset. Almost everyone eventually learns that life isn’t fair, but whether they conclude that life’s unfairness is good, bad, or neutral as a general principle probably depends on whether life was unfair in their favor at the time they learned about it. Since the world has consistently been unfair in Trump’s favor, he views that slant as generally good, and himself as worthy of his good fortune.
As a child, Trump also would have learned about democracy, which the US claims as the key to its greatness, and that democracy is the process that brings forth: The President. The President of the USA is called the “leader of the free world,” and Trump doesn’t seem to have discovered that there is any meaningful difference between a “leader” and a “ruler,” so as far as he’s been able to figure out, the President of the USA rules the whole world. And what does every simple-minded child see as the ultimate ambition and most gratifying reward? To Rule the Whole World.
The political process that brings the President into that office, from the position of lowly peasant citizen, is an election — which in his mind is identical in function and purpose to a popularity contest. Who do you vote for? The person you like the most. No nuanced weighing of different policy platforms or background or mental discipline, just “Who do you like most?” Popularity — the amount of people there are who like you — is the sole determiner of social stature in this babied-up version of reality. And since being liked is what gets you into power, then the same logic should work in reverse: if you’re powerful, then people must like you. Anyone beneath you who claims not to like you is either a sore loser who’s already been proven wrong by the system’s inherent justice, or lying to cover up their own jealousy. Possibly both.
Since he’s also been raised to believe in the power and rightness of capitalism, and capitalism markets itself as a democracy in which currency stands in for votes, Trump sees his wealth as an even more reliable indicator of just how liked he is. He brags about his wealth as often as he brags about his popularity, hoping that each will increase the other, and both will bring him closer to that Ruler of The Whole World position he’s been trained to crave so much.
Now he’s been there for a little while, and he’s disappointed. He’s firing people left and right for not providing the illusion of superiority he demands. He plays petty dominance games with other leaders and with his own people. He shows blatant ignorance of or even scorn for any legal restraints on his power. And he drops hints that he would like to be treated with more respect, more reverence, like the dictators he sees as his closest equals. Being president, he’s realizing, isn’t what he thought it was, so he’s setting his sights on something more absolute. Something even more powerful than Ruler of the Whole World.
Many of us as children played out fantasies of being monarchs of our own kingdoms. I used to twist wire into the shape of a crown and turn my laundry basket into a horse that I could ride around on. Think about those playtimes. Now imagine someone living in that made-up world well into his seventies, with his cardboard crown and his scepter made of a chair leg and an overturned bucket as a throne, except by now he has the intellectual and legal wherewithal to more completely manipulate his surroundings to match this vision. And instead of an unfortunate younger sibling or housepet made into his obedient subjects, it’s you, it’s your children, it’s your elders, it’s the water we drink and the air we breathe, it’s our whole world.
It’s time we all remembered that we don’t have to play along.
