Assholes: A Theory of Donald Trump
Posted: Fri Oct 17, 2025 4:47 pm
From back in 2016 when it didn't seem all THAT important. Or did we do this back then already?
https://philosophersmag.com/assholes-a- ... -a-review/Assholes: A Theory of Donald Trump
Almost everyone now knows that Donald Trump is an asshole. Much to his credit, Aaron James pointed this out in Assholes: A Theory (Anchor Books 2012) well before Trump took center stage in American politics. In his new book, James sets out to develop this idea in greater detail . . . in Assholes: A Theory of Donald Trump
. . . James begins the work by recapping the definition of the asshole he developed in his first book. On this view, the asshole has three essential features: First, he – James notes that assholes are mostly men – “allows himself special advantages in social relationships in a systematic way”; second, he is “motivated by an entrenched (and mistaken) sense of entitlement”; and third, he is “immunized against the complaints of other people”.
James claims that Trump is – like Ted Cruz – an asshole in this sense, but “being an ass-clown is Trump’s distinctive style of assholery”. According to James, the ass-clown “is someone who seeks an audience’s attention and enjoyment while being slow to understand how it views him”. Much like a man who chases women to flatter his own ego, Trump chases the electorate “to affirm his worth by being seen as powerful, the center of attention”. To win the affections of this lover, Trump must become a showman. Like a clown, he seeks to entertain, but like an ass, Trump fails to understand that he is the clown. For these reasons, James classifies Trump as an ass-clown.