Whatever one may want to say about Donald Trump’s style of political leadership, it can plausibly be described as charismatic—grounded neither in tradition nor in rational interest, it depends on the continuing faith in the leader by the mass of followers. Because of this it is inevitably brittle. One way of making it less so is to consecrate it with religious symbolism. Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the great charismatic leaders of modern European history, but even he found it opportune to be crowned emperor in a religious ceremony. I suppose that Trump would not be strongly averse to becoming …read more
Source: The American Interest
