Could there be a method to Donald Trump’s madness?
A wild new theory has been swirling about US President Donald Trump that could change everything we know about the way he runs the country.
It’s working. Deal with it.
US President Donald Trump has been accused of acting like an authoritarian since stepping into the role for the second time in January this year.
He has browbeaten Congress, the elected representatives of the Senate and House.
He’s reinterpreted the Constitution – ignoring both new judgments and centuries of precedent.
He’s sacking everyone who dares cross his will.
And the idea that he’s using “madman theory” as a tool to get what he wants is becoming entrenched.
“The world still has more than three years of Trump’s tenure as the US President and his unorthodox policy of problem-solving through crisis creation,” argues geopolitical analyst and former Indian politician Shri Prasher. “World leaders had better keep reminding themselves that they cannot expect any more free lunches from the United States.”
But the President’s forceful personality and approach to governance continue to raise concerns.
During his 2024 election campaign, Trump repeatedly said he wanted to be a dictator. Then he’d qualify: “On day one”.
Six months into his second term, he’s still saying it.
“A Lot of People Are Saying Maybe We’d Like a Dictator,” he said during a press stop to discuss the idea of deploying armed National Guard units into the city of Chicago.
That thought bubble came just days after his administration unleashed the FBI on its chief critics. This included disgruntled former Trump adviser John Bolton, New York Attorney-General Letitia James and Democrat Senator Adam Schiff.
Trump even repeated that he wants former President Barack Obama hauled before a tribunal.
Prasher says angry outbursts at this unexpected behaviour are the whole point.
“The question remains an interesting one – is there a method in Trump’s madness?” he writes for the Lowy Institute.
“If someone isn’t what others want them to be, the others become angry.”
And angry justifies extreme measures.
“Trump is using the tactic of ‘creating a crisis to solve a problem’ to handle intractable issues,” Prasher explains.
It’s happened before. It will happen again
A created crisis needs a support structure. Most significantly, advisers who won’t challenge its manufacture.
Yale University Professor of Classics Kirk Freudenburg says it’s a technique adopted throughout history by despots. With limited success.
“Particularly telling is the case of Nero, Rome’s emperor from 54 to 68 CE (AD), who responded to a disastrous fire in 64 with extreme cruelty and self-worship that did nothing to help desperate citizens,” he writes.
Nero was just 16 when he inherited the Roman emperorship. And the first five years of his reign were carefully guided by experienced state officials.
But Nero became impatient. He wanted things his own way.
“Nero began to purge these advisers from his life, via execution, forced suicide and exile,” Professor Freudenburg explains. “Nero instead collected a small cadre of self-interested enablers who derived power for themselves by encouraging their leader’s delusions, such as his desire to project himself as the incarnation of the sun god, Apollo.”
The city of Rome famously burned in 64AD.
The result was devastating.
“For answers, the fire’s countless victims looked to Nero, their earthly Apollo, for help,” the professor adds. “But they did not encounter a sympathetic leader sweeping in to address their needs. Instead, they found a man desperate to place blame on others – in this case, foreigners from the east.”
Nero’s first priority was to seize freshly cleared land for a grand new palace – the Domus Aurea (House of Gold). At its heart was a bold new 37m tall statue – of himself.
And his closest advisers sought to protect themselves through fawning praise and fudged statistics.
“Instead of honest solutions to real problems, what Romans got was a colossal statue that portrayed their leader as a god on Earth,” the professor concludes.
“As far away as the Roman Empire might seem, Nero’s rise and fall offer a lesson in what can happen when honest criticism of a political leader is sidelined in favour of idolatry.”
“l’état, c’est moi” – “I am the State”
“His craziest tweet of the weekend to me was him trying to dictate that Major League Baseball immediately induct Roger Clemens into the Hall of Fame because he played golf with Roger Clemens and, boy, Roger Clemens is just a great guy,” Georgetown University historian Garrett Graff told The New Republic earlier this week.
“This idea that there’s one true vision for America — and it is Donald Trump’s personal vision for what our life and our culture and our society should be — is to me the most clear example of authoritarianism that we could see.”
It’s an echo of an extreme attitude associated with the deposed French Monarchy.
Not the apocryphal “let them eat cake” ascribed to Queen Marie Antoinette.
Instead it’s French King Louis XIV’s “l’état, c’est moi” — “I am the state.”
“It’s that Donald Trump thinks that he personally and his taste should dictate what is in our museums with his attacks on the Smithsonian,” Graff states.
He’s made similar demands over what plays should be in theatres and books in libraries.
“Once leaders systematically eliminate feedback mechanisms, they lose all capacity for self-correction,” says University of Oxford Emeritus Professor Tim Morris and associate fellow Trang Chu.
“As their ability to process contradictory information deteriorates, they may increasingly conflate personal power with national interest.”
And no mistake is Trump’s fault.
“He frequently positions himself as surprised or “blindsided” by unpopular decisions, which are always somebody else’s doing, somebody else’s fault,: notes Edge Hill Professor in Psychology Geoff Beattie.
“Subordinates are held responsible. He is not averse to pointing the finger directly at them, and often in public, high-profile settings.”
Loyalty is no defence. Taking a hit for the boss is part of the job.
“Loyal insiders still stay loyal (for the foreseeable future at least),”. They won’t sling mud, like some might in their position. So Trump can appear masterful.”
Former Republican chairman of the Federal Election Commission says Trump’s style is not necessarily unconstitutional. But it is a breach of traditional principles. Otherwise called “norms”.
“They’re self-restraints to prevent ethics violations, unethical activity, to increase public confidence in the government,” he told US media.
“Presidents are not legally bound to abide by these norms, but at least until now, they’ve tried to … The reality is that they only work if the President cares about them and the President’s people enforce them.”
Signs and portents
“As you know, Chicago is a killing field right now, and they don’t acknowledge it,” Trump insisted Tuesday. “They say, ‘We don’t need him! Freedom! Freedom! He’s a dictator! He’s a dictator!’
“A lot of people are saying, ‘maybe we’d like a dictator’ …
“I’m not a dictator. I’m a man with common sense and a smart person.”
But Trump is full of praise for dictators.
“I think he’s done a really great job of outsmarting our country,” he said on the campaign trail in 2013.
“This is genius”, he said of Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. “He’s a tough cookie, got a lot of great charm and a lot of pride. But the way he — and he loves his country, you know?
And North Korea’s Kim Jong-un? “Very smart guy, very strong guy. He’s the absolute leader of that country.”
Trump isn’t pulling any punches in enforcing his sweeping political, social, and economic agendas.
Crime is down in Los Angeles and Washington DC. Though the armed troop presence is considerably up.
The US healthcare system is being rebuilt. Vaccines are out. Bleach is in.
And roadblocks to progress are being removed. And the replacement judges, auditors, investigators and departmental heads are chosen for their uncritical loyalty. To Trump. Not the broader notion of a United States.
Former Trump administration Department of Homeland Security and White House chief of staff John Kelly was recently asked by US media if he thought his former boss was fascist.
“Well, looking at the definition of fascism: It’s a far-right authoritarian, ultranationalist political ideology and movement characterised by a dictatorial leader, centralised autocracy, militarism, forcible suppression of opposition, belief in a natural social hierarchy,” Kelly replied.
“So certainly, in my experience, those are the kinds of things that he thinks would work better in terms of running America.”
But Prasher says Trump’s tactics are showing signs of success.
“Domestically, the crisis creation approach has helped cut down the Biden-era illegal immigration rates drastically,” he insists.
“Though the exact amounts remain debatable, Elon Musk’s DOGE did find and eliminate substantial wasteful expenditure.
“The anti-hydrocarbon movements were enriching China by enabling its near-monopoly over solar panels and wind turbine manufacture, even as China was frantically adding new coal-based power generation. Trump’s unabashed support for continued use of hydrocarbons will weaken that contradictory approach.”
Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer | @jamieseidel.bsky.social
Originally published as Could there be a method to Donald Trump’s madness?
