The MAGA King
The 7%--38%--55% Rule.
Meaningful communication is 7% the words themselves, 38% the tone of the speaker, and 55% the body language while speaking.
Albert Mehrabian, a professor of psychology at UCLA, made this allocation of what registers in human communication. His formula became famous, and he with it.
Mehrabian's Rule seems oddly precise for something so subjective, but generally I think it is about right. Policy is not irrelevant, but most voters are not looking at a checklist. They are trying to infer who is on their side and will protect and represent them. The personalities and mannerisms of Joe Biden and Donald Trump demonstrate Mehrabian's Rule. Joe Biden says the right thing but he sounds old, weak, and hesitant saying them. Strongly partisan Democrats take comfort in Biden's denoted words and tell me that Biden is just fine. They tell me his low-drama, low-impact communication manner is a feature, not a bug. "He says all the right things," they tell me. They are 7% right.
Trump presents himself to the public in a way that reminds me of stars in silent films a century ago. He makes big unmistakable gestures. He speaks English, of course, but his bombastic, domineering, ultra-confident style is unmistakable. He could be speaking a foreign language and we would absorb the big message: The man-in-charge.
Trump established a social medium platform, Truth Social, www.truthsocial.com. It is Trump's alternative to Twitter. It is a soap box and fan club for Trump, and as such it reveals an unmediated Trump. He is on home turf and among cheering supporters. He doesn't get cautionary cues from third parties. We get to see who he is and what his supporters like. Truth Social is a public service to voters.
He likes to playact being King.
This would be silly, goofball image-making, except that Trump-as-King is congruent with Trump's understanding of the limits of the presidency in a constitutional republic. Trump openly and unapologetically mixed personal and family interests with the office. He thought laws regarding conflicts of interest, emoluments, record-keeping, and the Hatch Act didn't apply to him. His "perfect phone call" with Zelenskyy, in which he asked for a political favor as condition of getting Congress-approved arms, was indeed perfect in his mind. Trump is the state. His interests are the country's interests. This isn't an unpopular view. He has a huge fan base. Monarchy and strong-man dictatorships have appeal when people feel worried or threatened.
Joe Biden criticized the "MAGA King" role that Trump was presenting on Truth Social. Possibly he thought Americans would recoil from monarchy. Trump did not deny it. He embraced it. Trump "re-Truthed":
Trump in Truth Social published a variety of similar images, without apparent irony or reservation. Muscular, decisive, stern-faced Trump.
The role of king is hereditary.
It makes sense for Biden to think to mock the meme. It is so un-American, so contrary to the Constitution. However, I think Biden misunderstands the American mood. Gridlock in Congress, and Democrats with a stalled agenda, have fostered the worry that Constitutional government just doesn't work very well. It is good at stopping things but not at doing things. Kings can get things done. Strong men have appeal.
There will be another election in 2024, and Democrats will have 2023 to select an alternative to Biden, if they choose to do so. Democrats do not need to replace Trump with a Democratic look-alike to Trump. Indeed, they must not. But they need to pick a person who looks and sounds like a leader.