Donald Trump:
Strong Man Demagogue or Democratic Leader
Daniel Benveniste, Ph.D.
October 4, 2016
Human political leadership has long been recognized to mirror the alpha male power dynamics
observed in much of the animal kingdom. Alpha males battle with other males for control of the
group and access to the females. As humans, our corresponding “strong man” politics give rise to
feudal kings, czars, pharaohs, dictators, caudillos, crime bosses, tyrants, thugocrats and even
presidents-for-life in pseudo-democratic governments. While “strong man” politics sometimes
include even the crude access to females, it is more commonly associated with a general access
to social power, money and political control. In democracy, however, the “strong man” is not a
person but a set of strong ideas, strong institutions, and a guiding constitution, which establishes
values and principles of governance including a periodic orderly change of leadership. In
democracy the “strong man” is the institution of the presidency, not the person of the president.
In “strong man” politics the politician campaigns with the promise of his/her strong personality,
big name and big face. The “strong man’s” ideas are weak, vague, impractical, full of lies and
even minimized in importance. In democracy, however, the people vote for the person with the
best ideas—the ideas they prefer. The “strong man” rules while the democratic leader serves.
The democratic leader serves the people but also serves the values and institutions of the
government.
Mugabe, Castro, Duterte, Putin, Chavez, Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Franco and so many more all
rule or ruled as “strong men” and their violence and destruction are notorious. They typically
have weak personalities and terrible insecurities that are masked with bravado and he-man
posturing. As “strong men” they are typically demagogues who rather than offer sound plans or
inspiring new visions, appeal to simplistic popular desires and prejudices. They play on people’s
emotions such as fears, resentments and revenge. They touch insecurities locate scapegoats and
fire up the crowds with incendiary speech. They speak in violent metaphors that reliably
transform into literal violence, which is then justified as necessary. They offer an image of
strength and invite the masses to identify with it. “I’m not weak, I’m strong. You’re not weak if
you identify with me. But if you don’t identify with me, it is because you are inferior or weak
and will be punished as my enemy, be scapegoated or even be annihilated.”
In “strong man” politics, akin to alpha male behavior as seen in the broader animal kingdom, we
see the strong male battling up the male hierarchy until he takes control of the group and stays
there lording over the rest, demanding subservience and ruling with punishments and fear. He
stays in power as long as he can and only relinquishes power when he is toppled by a younger
and stronger “strong man”. Chimpanzees fit this picture as well, but close observation offers an
interesting insight into human behavior. Alpha males in chimpanzee groups do not just have
strength, they also have alliances and while in power they maintain those alliances to preserve
their power. They are only taken down by a stronger male with stronger alliances. And when
taken down the alliances shift in order to fortify the new alpha male.
If that is the way it happens in the animal kingdom, how it has happened in human culture for
thousands of years and how it continues to happen in many contemporary cultures, what is
democracy? Democracy is a political system in which the alliances, agreements and contracts
between people are stronger than any individual alpha male, stronger than any “strong man”. In
democracy the alpha male is not an individual but rather a set of values, principles, laws and
institutions, and those laws include term limits.
My point is that Donald Trump is a “strong man” style politician running for office in a
democracy even though “strong man’ politics and democracy are incompatible. When Trump
says that he’s the only one that can save the US, when he incites violence, when he speaks of
women as objects/possessions, when he can’t be clear about his proposals, when his message
avoids rational examination, when he stirs up fears, when he consolidates his followers by
creating rejected out groups, when he uses coarse language, when he threatens violence from
“the 2nd amendment people” or threatens to take political prisoners (“Lock her up”) he is
identifying himself as an undemocratic candidate and as such he should be seen as a threat to our
democracy. We, as a democratic nation, can tolerate many differences but we must never
tolerate intolerance.
In a healthy democracy the ruling party always has a position and the opposition always has a
proposition. When the people are clear about the difference between the two sets of ideas the
people have a choice and democracy lives.
We need to remind Donald Trump that this country was founded on religious freedom, it has
been nourished for centuries by immigrants from all over the world, we have an equal rights
amendment, we have free speech, our great strength is intended to preserve the peace, we hold a
leadership position in the world, and we will not be bullied by him.
Furthermore, we need to remind ourselves that we live in a democracy and it is time for us to
rediscover it, cherish it and defend it for the generations to come. Yes, every generation must
rediscover democracy and defend it and now it’s our turn to do so.
If Trump was the Democrat's candidate, and he easily could have been, I would be voting
Republican. I do not oppose Trump because he is a Republican. I oppose him because he is cut
from the same cloth as all authoritarians who insist on black and white thinking and are
intolerant of ambiguity. I watched up close and personal (from 1999-2010) how Venezuela was
polarized and then ripped to shreds by Hugo Chavez's authoritarian speech and actions. Violent
words lead to violence and that country is now in ruins but nearing the end the chavista reign.
Trump’s supporters need to wonder why so many Republicans, bipartisan members of the
military high command and world leaders are alarmed by Trump's dangerous speech,
demagoguery, violent talk, and vulgar language. Is there something these people can see that the
Trump supporters cannot?
This year's election is not a question of Republican or Democrat. It is a question of Democracy
or Authoritarianism. The choice is ours. The problem is that if we choose authoritarianism, it
may well be our last choice.