The Anti Heroism of Donald Trump

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Although it might be correct to subtitle the recently released Donald Trump biopic The Apprentice as Portrait of a President as a Young Man, I suspect that there will not be all that much interest in how the future twice-elected President of the United States occupied himself between the years 1973 and 1985. Though his past was undoubtedly colorful and irreverent, megarich real estate moguls and businessmen are not usually favorably portrayed when depicted on the big screen. Morality and money do not, history tells us, go well together.

Not that the commercial value of Trump’s life is likely to be overlooked. On the contrary, it won’t be long, I’m sure, before ideas start being pitched to big name studios for film or television portrayals of President-Elect Trump that opens in the summer of 2015, when he first declared his intent to run for president in 2016. The nine-and-a-half-years between then and January 20, 2025 would undoubtedly provide for a compelling tale of political drama and international scheming and negotiating . And, to be sure, an awful lot in between.

What, though, would make such a project particularly challenging to those putting the story together – producers, writers, directors – would be how to honestly deal with the journeys of an anti-heroic figure such as Donald Trump to the White House, for unlike many presidents who are seen as statuesque and noble figures of history, the newly elected thirty-seventh POTUS is anything but; few would disagree that he has more in common with the infamous mafioso Tony Soprano than with Abraham Lincoln.

Heightening the intrigue is the fact that the demarcation line between an anti-hero and a villain is, after all, tissue thin. Even Mr. Trump would gleefully agree that he can be appropriately defined as one or the other. While it’s true that there have been occupants of the Oval Office who were far from being boy scouts, Trump, well, trumps them all.

The former and future president, we all know, is far more than the proverbial “bad boy”. In addition to being a convicted felon, he is openly sexist, foul-mouthed, and vindictive. Which, I suspect, is the secret to his success in this, his second shot at the White House. Analysts and statisticians are crunching numbers to no end in an effort to explain, demographically, why VP Harris failed to take any of the swing states. Quantitative analysis, however, not infrequently overlooks factors that are not easily compiled and crunched. And we can surely understand why polls, surveys and questionnaires would not likely include qualities such as lasciviousness, charlatanry, or self-grandiose as qualities suitable for the President of the United States.

Although a strong argument exists for defining Trump with the social media term “based” – which is understood to be someone who has earned respect despite having no or little regard for social norms or does not behave in accordance with basic morality – anti-hero is far more accurate and to the point. When depicted within a work or art – film, literature, drama – the anti-hero is he or she who plays a central role in the narrative despite having none of the virtues or positive qualities typically associated with heroic lead characters.

Which describes Trump to a tee. This, though, does not make him a fool. He is most certainly aware that for the last three or four decades there has been, within American culture, an ongoing fascination and obsession with the anti-hero personality. The imagination of the staid, normative public is excited by behavior that goes beyond conformity and social acceptability. Trump, likewise, engages in and endorses pejorative activities and ideas that require no small degree of courage (or chutzpah), and, as revealed by the results of the recent election, is greatly admired for doing so.

But if the production and logistics of getting such a project underway are daunting, just imagine the career-of-a-lifetime challenge facing the actor selected to portray the nuanced Donald Trump. His regard for civil rights is indeed troubling, but he is certainly not evil in the way earlier leaders in history have been. He has convincingly demonstrated that he has nothing but contempt for democracy and is ready to call upon violence when he deems it necessary, but he is by no means unlikeable or without charisma and charm. And as one pundit pointed out some months ago, although he rarely laughs, Trump can be, at times, quite funny. Oh yes, the actor fortunate to win this role will have his work cut out for him.

Characteristic of the anti-hero, oddly enough, is that despite their readiness to lie, they are for the most part trusted. Experienced pollsters have confirmed that, for Republicans, honesty is “very important”. This, though, did not stop a substantial majority of those being polled to indicate that they intended to vote for Trump. What was even more astonishing, is that Trump was found to be more trustworthy than members of their own family. One dare not underestimate the power of the anti-hero.

For presidents, the legacy they leave behind is of critical importance. This, understandably, creates a problem for an anti-hero like Trump, who does not want his legacy to be something overly negative as the forced deportation of illegal immigrants or the memory of the anarchy he instigated during the 2021 presidential inauguration. The horrific multifront war Israel has been engaged in since October 2023 as well as the turmoil between Russia and the Ukraine provide Trump with a unique opportunity to engage the diplomatic side of his anti-heroic personality and rightfully earn a Nobel Peace Prize by bridging seemingly unbridgeable conflicts.

Anti-heroes as depicted in art are often self-destructive. And even though Trump managed to get through the rigors of campaigning without doing himself any significant harm, what awaits on January 21, 2025 is anybody’s guess. But what is truly lamentable is that the virtues typically associated with heroism – courage, morality, honesty, humility – seem nonexistent in today’s leadership. Which makes someone like Donald Trump an attractive alternative. And, potentially, very dangerous.