Watching the descent of Donald Trump from indecent, corrupt, selfish, ignorant, and foolish to deliberate gross criminality that put the national security of his country at risk raises yet again the question of how someone with his alleged wealth, claimed high level of education and all the opportunities for success imaginable falls to such a state. And it’s not just Trump and his constantly grifting family to whom the question fairly applies.

The elected leaders of one of the two major political parties continue to support a candidate for leader of the country and commander-in-chief of the armed forces who has been twice-impeached (the party refused to hear the overwhelming evidence of his guilt) and now twice-indicted for multiple felonies, including threats to national security and against whom the evidence is, yet again, overwhelming. And more felony indictments are virtually certain regarding Trump’s attempt to overthrow the government on January 6, 2021, and remain in power despite his defeat in the 2020 election. Such is the reality of the Republican Party today that has aided and abetted many of his most criminal and dangerous behaviors.

MAGA Republicans, it seems, can keep multiple inconsistent ideas in their “minds” simultaneously without experiencing disabling cognitive dissonance. They can, for example, treat as “equal” situations that are plainly not “equal.” Examples of this behavior abound. They are masters of deflection: whatever Trump may have done (“who cares anyway”), someone else did something worse and was not punished so Trump should not be held accountable either. And on and on.

Interestingly, none of Trump’s most ardent supporters claim, “he didn’t do it.” Rather, they argue that he should not be punished under the law for what he did because,

            It’s a witch hunt;

            Others are more guilty of something or other;

            The investigations are “politically motivated”;

            Trump did “nothing wrong”;

            It was all antifa and Black Lives Matter

            Or it was the “deep state” out to get Trump

            Trump was framed [my personal favorite].

All very familiar Trump tropes.

Recall that Donald Trump said this: “I have an Article II where I have the right to do whatever I want as president.” And Trump thinks he is still the president.

As I have ruminated on what is happening here and why, I have, tentatively, come to some new conclusions. While I have never known anyone wholly like Trump, I have over my long life and career encountered many “successful” Type A people, almost all men, who share many characteristics with Trump.

I now believe, tentatively, that most men like Trump began their lives with various advantages that made them “successful standouts” at an early age. This phenomenon may go all the way back to grammar school, when the first genuine socialization behaviors are displayed. These are the boys who, regardless of actual talents, are always deferred to when teams are picked at recess or after school for pick-up sports. They are selected by default to pick the players they want on their side. The selection process is merciless and is repeated over and over day after day.

These same boys tend to be socially popular with both boys and girls. They exude confidence that is reinforced constantly at home and everywhere else. They are molded into dominant figures, accustomed to having their way, to being favored, to being successful in virtually everything they do. Often, they are rewarded in areas in which they do not excel because of their perceived status in other areas.

This reinforcement continues through high school and beyond. These men are the anointed “leaders” whose merit and status are rarely if ever questioned. They are, to paraphrase a line from the movie, Barry Lyndon, not the smartest, the quickest, the bravest, the most talented. They are, simply, the “best people.” And because they are so regarded, they are beyond reproach even when their behavior would otherwise warrant and even require condemnation and sanction.

Emergent from this process is a sense of self-worth, of self-regard that distorts their understanding of reality. Other men, and many women, are impressed by their self-confidence, their “authority,” that is evident in how they present themselves, independent of any objective reality as to their actual talents or worth.

The end of this process is, however, at least in my experience, almost always the same. Donald Trump is the purest manifestation of it. The hubris that develops blinds these men to the truth of their situation. They see themselves as untouchable, not subject to the same rules that govern everyone else.

How could they not? U.S. Senators and Congressmen (and now women) are fawned over, treated as special in every way, sought after socially, given power unrelated to their intelligence or actual skills. They are, after all, the “best people.” It’s just who they are. Or so they believe. American culture tends to venerate and elevate these men (mostly men).

The same is true of many “successful” businessmen. They may be dolts. They may be corrupt. Doesn’t matter. They are who they are – the winners, the top dogs. Media fawn over their every word, adding to the illusion of their superiority. These men attract money, followers, devotees – passionate supporters who need to share the penumbra of their worthiness.

Until they aren’t worthy. Until the sheen of invincibility is shattered by revelations of the lack of merit that has been concealed for so long beneath the veneer.  Examples are everywhere. Take the Cuomo brothers, Andrew and Chris. The sons of Mario Cuomo, the three-term governor of New York. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Cuomo Mario Cuomo came from the humblest of circumstances – the family ran a grocery store in Queens. But he was highly intelligent and very ambitious. A powerful, dominating figure.

So too his sons. Yet, both have fallen from their pedestals, for different but related reasons. Then there is Rudy Giuliani, once called America’s Mayor for his post-9/11 “leadership.” By all accounts, he was highly intelligent and ambitious but, he too, fell from grace when he embraced Donald Trump’s brand of “truth.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudy_Giuliani

Consider the actor Will Smith. Highly talented and successful until he decided, and make no mistake it was a decision, to attack the Oscars’ host on live television for making a tasteless joke about his wife. Smith may recover. The Cuomo brothers and Giuliani may not.

Let’s not forget this: Trump Will Not Apologize for Calling for Death Penalty Over Central Park Five. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/06/18/nyregion/central-park-five-trump.html Presaging his views on the Charlottesville Unite the Right rally in 2017, involving alt-right, neo-Confederates, neo-fascists, white nationalists, neo-Nazis, Klansmen, and far-right “militias:  “You have people on both sides of that,” the president said when asked about the wrongly convicted defendants.”

So it goes. Over and over again. A seemingly endless progression of “great men” brought down by their own hubris – defined in dictionaries as ‘excessive pride or self-confidence.’ They come to believe they are untouchable, beyond reproach regardless of what they do. And in some sense their perception is correct, demonstrated by Trump himself in the way he has managed to not only survive but prevail, despite multiple obvious crimes, despite business mismanagement and multiple bankruptcies, and despite multiple credible allegations of sexual abuse and assault.

[to be continued in Part 2]