Performance politics | Political Economy

Donald Trump’s first term as President of the United States has challenged some long-held assumptions about American leadership, turning controversy, spectacle and unpredictability into defining characteristics of political life. His administration was characterized by chaos – public feuds, rapid staff turnover and joint press briefings – that deepened national polarization. By ignoring the accuracy and validity of reality and its tendency to distort reality, to undermine trust in institutions and destroy the concept of objective truth. Politics under Trump has become a field of emotional loyalties, tribal identities and “alternative facts”. To his critics, he normalized fraud and authoritarianism. To his supporters, he embodied authenticity, defiance and strength. This gap reflects a broader psychological fracture in American civic life. in which competing facts have outgrown a shared understanding of truth. It requires an unflinching analysis of Trump’s personality because his decisions, even statements, can rub off deeply on international events from Gaza to China and beyond.

Trump’s personality has attracted unprecedented psychological scrutiny. Many scholars and therapists have identified traits consistent with narcissistic, antisocial, and antisocial personality patterns: need for grandiosity, aggression, and admiration. His niece, psychologist Mary Trump, attributes these traits to a childhood of emotional neglect and the dominance of her father, Fred Trump, who equated empathy with ruthlessness and success. These early lessons – never apologize. Never be behind; And always winning creates an adult personality that sees relationships as contests for dominance. Whether they are understood medically or politically, Trump’s behaviors—from his gaslighting statements to his interest in conspiracy theories—have forced Americans to confront troubling questions about leadership, truth, and the fragility of democratic principles in an age of performative power.

Trump’s performance style was evident long before his political ascension. In 2006, his negotiations to purchase a Scottish mini-estate revealed not only a businessman but a showman. As one commentator remarked, it was “Donald Trump playing Donald Trump.” Authors such as Michael D’Antonio and Mark Singer have noted that this theatricality defines his identity: the boundaries between personality and person disappear. Trump’s life functions as a constant performance in which the focus is both the stage and the prize.

Psychologically, Trump ranks at the extremes on major dimensions of personality. In the Big Five model, he scores unusually high on—massive, controversial, and relentlessly attention-seeking—while his hostility, arrogance, and determination appear to be unusually low on reflection. This volatile combination creates both his magnetic charisma and capacity for cruelty. His humor and energy engage followers, his aggression and lack of empathy.

At the heart of Trump’s worldview is schema “The contract“ Life is a constant negotiation in which victory and profit are paramount. Strength should be assessed, weakness exploited and compromise avoided. What has proven effective in business has been translated into a political philosophy that is dominated by consideration rather than ideological recognition, transactional advantage rather than leverage. Their leadership model resembles a zero-sum contest: one side must win, the other must lose.

Donald Trump’s psychological and narrative identity merges performance, narcissism and combat into a single vision of power. His leadership style reimagines politics as theater, truth as truth and victory as virtue.

Psychologists say that such traits create a leader who is bold but fallible—capable of decisive action but prone to risk, foolishness, and a disregard for truth. Like Andrew Jackson, to whom he is often compared, Trump channels populist anger and appeals to those seeking order in a time of social change. However, unlike Jackson, Trump’s popularity lacks a coherent national vision. It is fueled not by ideology but by performance—a theater of grievance in which conflict itself becomes the governing principle.

Narcissism stands at the heart of Trump’s psychological profile. Harvard psychologist Howard Gardner called them “significantly abnormal”. Others consider it a “textbook case”. Her career has been a lifelong project of self-branding. Even at her father’s funeral, her eulogy focused on her own achievements as evidence of verbal success. Narcissism, clinically defined, involves an obsessive need for grandeur, entitlement, and validation. For Trump, this is at the level of his boasting about being the “King of Palm Beach,” where he claims the elite “love me, kiss my ass, and then say I’m terrible.” Such remarks show both self-importance and acute sensitivity to feedback. It’s an endless loop of self-promotion and complaining.

Contrary to the psychological model that links narcissism to deprivation, Trump’s childhood appears to have enhanced rather than compensated for itself. The overwhelming admiration for Fred Trump’s dominance and endorsement of risk-taking fostered an organized identity around the win. At the New York Military Academy, young Donald thrived on competition and command but struggled with intimacy and cooperation. These early reinforcements shaped an adult for whom attention equaled existence and victory.

Research on presidential narcissism shows the opposite. Great leaders – such as Lyndon Johnson, Theodore Roosevelt and Andrew Jackson – often achieve historical significance through confidence and courage. Yet their self-absorption can also foster moral lapses and instability. Narcissism thus functions as a double-edged trait: it fuels boldness and charisma but invites recklessness and moral blindness. Trump exemplifies this dynamic. His charisma and composure propelled him to the presidency, yet his volatility and lack of empathy undermined the institutions he led. As both history and psychology show, pride can lead to success – but also prevents decline.

Every US president calls psychologist a narrative identity. It is the story of a life that gives coherence to the nation itself and symbolic meaning. George W. Bush saw his life as redemption by faith. Barack Obama as Freedom Through Hope. Trump’s own story, by contrast, is one of constant struggle. Raised to see the world as dangerous, he was taught that survival depended on toughness and dominance. Fred Trump’s dictum – “Be a killer” – get his moral code. Sent to military school for discipline after youthful deviance, he internalized the worldview of victory: never show weakness, never give up. The death of his gentle brother Freddie reinforces the lesson that compassion leads to defeat.

Trump’s personal mythology thus portrays life as a constant battle between strength and weakness, winners and losers. His greatest fear is humiliation. Its high value, victory. Even in business and entertainment, success is measured not by profit or purpose but by victory. The goal is not to achieve, but to win – and to be seen to win.

In essence, Donald Trump’s psychological and narrative identity merges performance, narcissism and combat into a single vision of power. His leadership style reimagines politics as theater, truth as truth and victory as virtue. It is a form of rule rooted not in reflection or principle, but in the endless pursuit of attention and dominance. In Trump’s America, leadership is not about leading a nation toward a common goal.

(to be continued)

The author is a professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts at Beacon House National University, Lahore.