Chapter 40: Trump and the Question of Trumpism
Power Without Purpose
“Oh, hell, say that I’m sui generis and let it go at that.”1
These are the words of Huey Long, governor of and senator from Louisiana in the early 1930s, in response to reporters trying to describe him. Two early posts in this Substack deal with Long because he is closer to Donald Trump than any other political figure in American history.
Though Trump shares some traits with Long, the two are also quite different in important ways. Long, it is said, "was nearly always moved when he talked about poor people and his determination to help them.”2 Trump is not out to help anybody.
What we know about Trump is that he spotted something that had been lying dormant in the United States and overlooked by standard-issue politicians. He was able to mobilize this dormant segment to devastating effect. He captured the Republican Party, and he exercises to a distressing degree power over everyone in the United States.
What explains Trump’s hold on his followers? To them, he is a charismatic figure. His appeal is non-rational. It is beyond reason, so those in thrall cannot be talked out of it.
Here is a passage from a classic published in 1951 entitled The True Believer by Eric Hoffer: The “mass leader” embodies a sometimes unspoken dialogue with the public. He “articulates and justifies the resentment dammed up in the souls of the frustrated. He kindles the vision of a breathtaking future so as to justify the sacrifice of a transitory present. He stages the world of make-believe so indispensable for the realization of self sacrifice and united action. . . .”3
What are the requirements for this performance?
“Exceptional intelligence, noble character and originality seem neither indispensable nor perhaps desirable. The main requirements seem to be: audacity and a joy in defiance; . . . faith in his destiny and luck; a capacity for passionate hatred; contempt for the present; a cunning estimate of human nature; a delight in symbols. . . unbounded brazenness which finds expression in a disregard of consistency and fairness. . . .”4 This sounds a lot like Trump.
Unfortunately for the United States, the traits just mentioned, though effective in turning a political candidacy into a mass movement, have nothing to do with governing. What have we learned from the first three months of Trump’s second term? We have learned what we should have learned from his first administration. He knows how to unlock resentment very deep in the population. However, he has no idea whatever how to govern as President of this country.
These first three months have been chaotic to a grotesque degree. Try to imagine what the United States is going to be like in a year. This thought experiment is not easy.
One of the reasons for the rampant chaos to which we are being subjected is Trump’s construction of his administration. Take a look at the people that he is surrounding himself with and gaze upon their incompetence. Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Defense, discusses highly classified information using insecure technology and invites a journalist to join in. Bobby Kennedy, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, is ignorant about the efficacy of vaccines. Senior counsellor for trade and manufacturing Peter Navarro has been described by Elon Musk as a “moron” and “dumber than a sack of bricks.”5 The administration sent a vicious letter to Harvard University “signed by three federal officials . . . on April 11 as promised.” Unnamed “sources” were reported to have said on April 19 that the letter was “unauthorized.”6
Then there is the saga of the Secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem. She went out to dinner with her family at a restaurant in Washington DC called The Capital Burger. Her Gucci bag was stolen while she was dining. “Items inside the Gucci bag,” according to CNN, “included a Louis Vuitton Clemence wallet, Noem’s driver’s license, medication, apartment keys, passport, DHS access badge, makeup bag, blank checks, and about $3,000 in cash.” Why, you may well ask, did she have so much cash? According to a Department of Homeland Security Spokesperson, “Her entire family was in town including her children and grandchildren – she was using the withdrawal to treat her family to dinner, activities, and Easter gifts.”7
Remember, she is the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security. Does this make you feel safer?
Prior to this incident, Noem was best known for shooting her dog Cricket. “I hated that dog,” Noem explained.8 What, one wonders, did Cricket think of her?
This administration is a circus. But if it is a joke, it is on us. Real people are being terribly harmed by the incompetence and the cruelty exhibited. Think of Mr. Abrego Garcia, mistakenly sent to a prison in El Salvador and still not returned to the United States.
Trump is not the first “mass leader” to gain power. Others have practiced “the politics of raw emotion.” Emotion, not reason. Corruption galore. Honesty is the enemy. Leaders in this tradition lie and lie and lie. Mussolini “never killed anyone, . .”9 according to Silvio Berlusconi (1936 – 2023), three times the Prime Minister of Italy. “The decay of truth and democratic dissolution proceed hand in hand. . . . Once [the authoritarian leader’s] supporters bond to his person, they stop caring about his falsehoods. They believe him because they believe in him.”10 No claim is too extravagant. Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi (1942-2011) asserted that he was sent by Allah.11 “God wanted Donald Trump to become President,” according to Sarah Huckabee Sanders.12
Strongmen, according to historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat “probe the sore spots of the nation, stimulating feelings of humiliation and anxiety and offering their own leadership as a salve.”13 True of Mussolini and of Hitler. She also observes that “personality cults share an important quality of celebrity: the object of desire must seem accessible, but also remote and untouchable.”14
One could gather a set of traits from Mussolini, Franco, Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, and other anti-democratic leaders and find their reappearance in Trump. It would indeed be surprising if Trump’s people did not study the anti-democratic totalitarians who came to power during the last hundred years. One hears some of the phrases these people used popping up in Trump’s own voice. Trump’s talent has been to synthesize these various traits and to transform them into an American idiom.
Is there such a thing as Trumpism? The evidence is that there is not. Trump himself has no beliefs other than glitz and show which lead to power. Will the United States have greatly elevated tariffs a year from now? Who knows? Does anyone think that Trump actually cares?
What happens when a Trump follower tries to beat him at his own game? Ask Ron DeSantis. Or, as Trump christened him, Ron DeSanctimonious. He spent a fortune trying to become President in 2024.15 He parroted Trump’s talking points. He seemed to be trying to create Trump without the baggage. His failure could not have been more complete.
DeSantis’ principal super-PAC was called Never Back Down. But he did back down before the New Hampshire primary. He put the friction with Trump behind him and endorsed Trump.16
Trump depends on charisma and magical thinking. DeSantis was stuck in the real world. Magic won easily. But it cannot last forever. One should never say never in this world, but can anyone really imagine JD Vance playing the role of Donald Trump? Or Don Jr.? Trump is sui generis. Let’s leave it at that.
Josip Broz Tito (1892-1980) had no successor and neither did Francisco Franco (1892-1975). There is a chance that when Trump eventually steps off the stage, sanity and decency may once again prevail.
The problem is that between now and then, whenever that might be, Trump can do a staggering amount of irreparable harm. Look at how much permanent damage has been inflicted upon our country since January 20.
T. Harry Williams, Huey Long (New York: Knopf, 1970) p. 414.
Williams, Long, p. 751.
Eric Hoffer, The True Believer (HarperCollins e-book) p. 140.
Hoffer, Believer, p. 140. Italics added.
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/04/22/what-elon-musk-said-about-tariffs-and-their-potential-effect-on-tesla.html; https://youtube.com/watch?v=ZR0YtO72cs8
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/19/us/harvard-trump-administration-letter-mistake/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/22/politics/kristi-noem-theft-gucci-bag-details/index.html; For more details, please see: https://www.cnn.com/2025/04/26/politics/kristi-noem-bag-thief-arrested/index.html
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2024/apr/26/trump-kristi-noem-shot-dog-and-goat-book
Ruth Ben-Ghiat, Strongmen (New York: Norton, 2020) p. 8.
Ben-Ghiat, Strongmen, p. 9.
Ben-Ghiat, Strongmen, p. 78.
Ben-Ghiat, Strongmen, p. 70.
Ben-Ghiat, Strongmen, p. 71.
Ben-Ghiat, Strongmen, p. 93.
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/01/us/politics/ron-desantis-money-trump.html
https://apnews.com/article/trump-desantis-presidential-campaign-rivalry-fundraising-republicans-d782508e303cd87ff853cac8b999c477