Essentials of Leadership: The Core Sources of Trump’s Presidency

Abstract

This chapter examines several basic elements of the Trump presidency and leadership. They include: the nature of the president’s supporters, including their supposed “racial resentment” and the nature and reality of their powerful emotional connections of respect and standing linking them with Trump. We then turn to TrumpThink—a magical mystery tour reflecting how Trump understands his world, full of unexpected associative detours, logical lane changing, and surprisingly clear reconnection to his original train of thought. TrumpTalk shares those qualities. It is often meandering, frequently exaggerated, regularly provocative, and honestly heartfelt if rarely fact-check level “correct.” We then take up the issue of TrumpTruth—how he uses facts and tweets—the president’s serial imprecise relationship with “the Truth,” including “larger Truths”; and promise keeping as a strategy for his reelection.