Kathrine Frich
Leaders who rely on sheer personal authority eventually grow obsessed with safety.
Top political leaders often look invincible from the outside. But that image is usually an illusion.
Behind closed doors, immense power frequently brings a crushing sense of paranoia.
One historian now believes that this deep anxiety is driving the American president’s decisions.
A hidden bunker
Authoritarian leadership expert Dr. Ruth Ben-Ghiat recently sat down with Joanna Coles on The Daily Beast. During their chat, she argued that Donald Trump has adopted the habits of a political strongman.
Leaders who rely on sheer personal authority eventually grow obsessed with safety. They trust almost nobody. Instead, they view everyone outside their immediate circle with deep suspicion.
“The secret of strongmen is that they live in fear, and this is why they build their bunkers,” Dr. Ben-Ghiat explained, according to the Irish Star.
She pointed to the president’s focus on secure spaces at the White House. “And Trump’s always talking about, you know, not only the ballroom where people can adulate him and he can get money, but the bunker underneath, that’s his safe space,” she noted.
Hunt or be hunted
That intense focus on survival shapes foreign policy as well. The historian recalled the president’s reaction to the death of Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“When the Supreme Leader of Iran was killed, he said, ‘I got him before he could get me,'” Dr. Ben-Ghiat observed. She concluded that “This hunt or be hunted is the mentality of the strongman.”
Interviewer Joanna Coles pushed back. She pointed out that the president survived a highly publicized shooting in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“But if I were Donald Trump, I feel like you can cut him a break on that because he’s genuinely been the target of assassination attempts,” Coles argued. Dr. Ben-Ghiat quickly agreed, noting, “Of course, of course. And they all are.”
The inner circle
Still, she warned that constant fear creates a dangerous bubble. Paranoia forces leaders to isolate themselves.
“They create what are called these inner sanctums around themselves, which are full of sycophants, family members,” she stated.
Relatives become especially valuable. “They can keep their secrets because they’re family. They’re tasked with often the corrupt deals,” Dr. Ben-Ghiat told The Daily Beast.
Shutting out critics eventually leads to major blind spots. “And so, over time, if you only have sycophants around you and everybody’s subjected to loyalty tests constantly, you don’t have what every manager knows is essential, which is objective feedback on your actions,” she concluded.
Sources: The Daily Beast, The Irish Star
