What makes Trump so seductive? Many analyses point to his policies and race-baiting. To his pandering and lying. To the fact that he’s an “outsider” and a “successful business man” and that the American system needs shaking up. But none of these traits are particularly unique among individuals running for office.
On the other hand, among candidates, Trump is singularly masterful in his ability to protect his own ego, a skill honed through decades of salesmanship and failure. I believe that this is the unique feature responsible for Trump's success, providing the timely palliative for which certain voters with bruised egos are desperate.
Trump’s self-protection is simultaneously simple and sophisticated. In his deft public defenses of his own insecurity, he implicitly teaches those who listen to him how they might defend themselves as well. Thus we find Trump's speech compelling because, by internalizing it, we direct our own thinking away from uncomfortable truths and instead toward the self-comforting lies of greatness.
Other politicians, in their speechwriting, work hard to deliberately craft a narrative frame that serves their interests. Trump has no need to compose his speeches ahead of time, because his own internal narrative has already been carefully crafted to manipulate: Trump’s success at deceiving himself has been what’s enabled him to so easily deceive others.
Ironically, Trump’s narcissism isn’t a liability -- it’s his greatest asset.
