It’s Time for Substance, Not Style

By Angela Zhang

Columnist

This week, I listened to episode 401 of the Freakonomics podcast, which briefly discussed whether charisma is a matter of nature or nurture. It seems particularly relevant right now, given the end of Bernie Sanders’ campaign on April 8. Because he was clearly quite charismatic in many ways, I’d like to take some time to write about charisma’s influence in politics, as well as its many dangers. Let’s use a case study to illustrate—Donald Trump.

Let me first start off by saying that I don’t think charisma equates to the capacity to do “good.” One is not good because they are charismatic, nor is someone charismatic because they are good. Instead, I see charisma as just a trait that enables someone to develop a substantial following by means of persuasion, communication and personality. Charismatic political leaders are able to motivate followers and capture everyone’s attention with their strong personalities. 

When examining Trump as a politician, I must admit he is one of the most charismatic leaders in modern history. He hasn’t persuaded me much, no, but he certainly has persuaded and captivated the affectionate admiration of millions of other Americans. He wouldn’t be able to satisfy and entertain his base of supporters, especially during uncertain and polarizing times, without a significant amount of charisma.

His charisma manifests itself in many different ways—assertive hand gestures, humorous and confident speaking, memorable word choice. The list goes on. Like him or not, he has developed a distinct persona, almost a brand, that’s hard to forget. After all, many of us end up quoting him every day, admirably or mockingly. At the end of the day, he is who we read about in the papers and quote over dinner conversations. He has grabbed national attention since the very beginning of his campaign, and even to this day. 

In some ways, the old saying rings true: all press is good press.

See, Trump also portrays himself as a revolutionary and reliable leader. He creates powerful “us versus them” situations by simplifying circumstances and pinning blame on one thing or one group of people. For example, blaming immigrants for declines in American wages is a much easier pill to swallow than policy jargon. 

He claims he can unite the “us” to defeat the “them.” To project this image, he maintains supreme confidence in his own ability to keep things under control (think contradicting experts and claiming he has the coronavirus under control). This assured personality satisfies his many followers and recruits even more to the Trump brand. They feel that he, at the end of the day, commands the room and “tells it like it is.”

By playing into supporters’ loyalty to the Trump brand, he cultivates a strong sense of unity among his followers. And what does that do? As we all know, in unified group settings, it’s harder to make independent judgments when it’s so much easier to just go along with what everyone else is believing. Anyone who has taken a psychology course will tell you this phenomenon is dubbed “mob mentality.” It’s quite the dangerous cycle.

By riding off of the Trump brand, he avoids addressing alarming data. He uses anecdotes and fear to heighten risk perception, like stories about crimes committed by illegal immigrants, rather than stating the specific statistics and noting broader contexts. He advantageously directs attention away from numbers and instead focuses on emotion in order to convince followers. 

They are probably thinking emotionally, too; at this point, he projects such confidence that it's easy to believe his platitudes are true. That’s an extremely attractive and persuasive concept, that one person has all the solutions. It makes things easy.

So Trump seems to fit the persuasive aspect of charisma perfectly. Remember, we’re looking for persuasion, communication and personality. What about communication and personality? 

I don’t think Trump is a very eloquent speaker. Actually, he always seems to be winging it. He sometimes goes on tangents; he’s not very concise. It can be hard to follow along to his addresses that resemble more of a conversation than a professional oration. But this is exactly where Trump’s personality comes into play, and this is what ultimately attracted so many of his supporters. 

Trump’s conversational speaking style may come across as more genuine and approachable; it’s not formulaic or very scripted. His presentation (which again, often is based on emotion rather than data) is more energetic and personal. Speeches filled with data and facts, on the other hand, may come across as boring and flat—not at all memorable. Trump creates a following drawn to his personality and relaxes them with his confidence, with his assurance that  he knows what he is doing and that everything is under control.

This is not to say Trump’s followers are only drawn by his charisma. Of course, they believe his policies are what’s best for them and share the same views as him, and often have other reasons for supporting him. But charisma definitely influenced Trump’s political career greatly, and that same charisma continues to define the political scene. It is certain that Trump, a man who had never held elected office before running for President, did not get elected off of his brilliant policy. 

This is an unfortunate phenomenon. It’s politics, it’s making decisions regarding the governance of a body of people. Of course we need rationality over personality. Politicians should be able to present their policies and ideologies without needing to scramble and create some bogus personality to gain supporters. Unfortunately, it seems that most politicians, no matter how amazing their ideas are, won’t succeed unless they are able to develop a cult of personality.

Though seemingly a necessary evil, I strongly believe charisma can be dangerous in politics. If a leader is charismatic enough, they can predispose followers to break established rules or act against their own moral instincts. Charisma, as I mentioned previously, does not equate to the capacity to do good. 

I urge everyone to take a step back occasionally and formulate their own judgments. Do not be so easily swayed by charismatic leaders. Don’t feel as though you need to believe in what everyone else believes in. Feel confident in your own thinking, ask questions, challenge what you see and hear and most importantly, focus on reliable facts, logic and reason. Politicians need to do what’s best for the people and the state. Now and in the future, policy over personality.