Trump Is an Angry Little Boy on a Great White Horse

Opinion|An Angry Little Boy on a Great White Horse

I have a friend who worked in the first Trump administration who really admired the ancient virtue magnanimity (which is different than the modern definition, generosity). I thought that was odd since she is a devout Catholic whereas through most of the past 2,400 years magnanimity has been seen as a pagan virtue that directly contradicts the Christian ones. But especially after Tuesday night’s presidential address I could understand her interest. I walked away thinking that ancient magnanimity is the organizing principle of Donald Trump’s life — or at least a third rate, schoolboy version of magnanimity.

What is classical magnanimity? The magnanimous man is a certain social type who down through the centuries has fascinated people like Aristotle, Cicero, Aquinas and Nietzsche. The magnanimous man accurately believes he is great and seeks to win triumphs that will bring glory and greatness to his country. Noble versions of magnanimity include Pericles, who led Athens through some of the Peloponnesian War, and more recently Charles de Gaulle, who reclaimed France from the Nazis. Third-rate versions include Trump, who dreams of conquest over Greenland, Canada and the Panama Canal.

The magnanimous man does not believe in equality. In his view, some people are great-souled; they lead, live in splendor and strive for eternal fame. Other people are small-souled; they follow and are grateful to be led. The great-souled man displays courage and seeks honor and power. He has contempt for the small-souled man, whose humility, charity and compassion seem to him forms of weakness.

The quintessential magnanimous man is aloof. He doesn’t really have friends. Historically, he has rivals from whom he extracts tribute (like trying to seize Ukraine’s mineral wealth), and he has acolytes on whom he bestows gifts. He gives gifts to others not out of generosity but to display his own superiority. On Tuesday night, Trump told a grieving mother he was naming a wildlife preserve after her murdered daughter. He gave a student the gift of admission to West Point. Trump glowed at the sight of his own noblesse oblige.

The magnanimous man is charismatic. Whatever you think of the man, Trump’s speech on Tuesday night was a political triumph. He made himself look dominating, energetic and in control, while the Democrats looked pathetic and weak. His followers loved it. Populations that feel betrayed and disrespected naturally go for leaders who radiate status, power and vitality.

Of course one problem for Trump is that he is not the admirable version of the magnanimous man; he is a made-for-TV simulacrum of one. A truly magnanimous man — whether Pericles, Alexander the Great, de Gaulle, George Washington, George Patton or Winston Churchill — has earned his self-estimation. He has made himself wise, courageous, prudent and virtuous through hard study and a life of service. Trump, by contrast, has merely swooped up his hair.