The Power and the Presence: Donald Trump and the triumph of American masculinity

I’ve been fascinated by leadership and masculinity for as long as I can remember. As a child of the 90s I grow up watching images of great American men, legends such as Harrison Ford, Paul Newman and Chuck Norris. These men weren’t ironic or apologetic. They were decisive. Men who acted, rather than explained.

Throughout my whole life, I have always been fascinated by leading men and have got close to them in any way I can. But I have never, and I mean never, encountered a force like Donald J. Trump. And I never will again.

I was a college dropout in my late 20’s after a succession of teachers, and then professors disbelieved me, and an even longer series of employers discouraged me. Some would have considered me a loser. 

But not Donald Trump. 

The President told me I was special and tells me that every day (and often at night 😊). He has a force that makes people believe in themselves, as much as they believe in him. He makes you believe you can follow him with conviction and confidence. 

Growing up the daughter of a single mom in a trailer park in Alabama, abandoned by my egocentric and philandering father, you could be forgiven for thinking I may be susceptible to daddy issues. 

But that was until Donald J. Trump changed my life. 

I was just a student at my state college when Trump burst on the scene in 2015. All the smarter coastal kids who looked down their nose on me thought he was a joke. All my lecturers who failed me thought he was the worst thing that could happen to America. 

I could never understand why. But gradually I came to understand. 

Ultimately, it all comes down to size.

Small men don’t like big men, and this man is so big in every way (except maybe his hands whose tiny fingers are perfect for me 😊

I’ve seen him up close, in rooms where history gets made. I’ve seen him take calls from world leaders and see how they react to him. Sometimes they flatten, sometimes they threaten but they always defer. Why? Because they know what I know: Donald Trump doesn’t blink. They know he’s not playing their little diplomatic games. He’s there to win for the American people. He doesn’t beg for approval. He commands it. And frankly, it’s tantalising to watch, and (dare I say) titillating to experience. 

I’ve watched him lean back in his chair during tense negotiations, utterly relaxed while lesser men are sweating through their briefing notes. And then, when the moment is right, he strikes — decisive, commanding, unapologetic. It’s not rehearsed. It’s not staged. It’s natural. And whether people want to admit it or not, that’s part of what draws people to him, especially women who respect strength in a man.

You can always tell a leader by the reaction of those around him, and how others respond to his presence. You can call it charisma; you can call it magnetism. I just call it what it is: presence. The man walks into a room, and you can feel it. The energy shifts. The temperature rises. Everyone, friend or foe, suddenly remembers who the alpha is. Anyone who pretends otherwise is lying. Or a jealous beta cuck. Or a liberal.

But it’s not just strength that defines him. It’s instinct. Trump has an instinct for this country like nobody I’ve ever met. He understands what keeps regular Americans up at night, and unlike most of the Ivy League operatives in this town, he doesn’t roll his eyes at it. He respects it. He channels it. He lives it. 

He is the All-American forcefield, our starship trooper defeating enemy threats. 

At Alabama State, one of my international relations professors liked to repeat a line often attributed to George Burns: “The secret of success is sincerity. Once you can fake that, you’ve got it made.”

This is the epicentre of his appeal to us Americans. He is sincere in that he does not give a shit. 

People like to say Trump is divisive. What they don’t say is that it’s because he tells uncomfortable truths. And the people who don’t like him? Nine times out of ten, they don’t like him because he can’t be controlled. He’s not on anyone’s payroll but America’s.

I’ve been in rooms with him when decisions were made about trade, defense and real estate. Let me tell you something: Trump doesn’t need stacks of binders. He cuts to the point, asks the question everyone else is afraid to ask, and makes the call.

It’s not just about policy, though his record speaks for itself: record energy production, peace in the Middle East, bringing jobs home. It’s about a kind of leadership we thought didn’t exist anymore. 

Is he perfect? No human being is. But perfection never built anything, and a nice guy isn’t what this country needs. It needs courage. It needs stamina. It needs a fighter. And that’s what President Trump is. There’s a difference between holding power and embodying it. Donald Trump does both effortlessly. 

Leadership is something you recognise when you see it. You don’t need a theory for it, and you don’t need it explained by experts. You either feel it or you don’t. Donald Trump is not just a president. He’s a phenomenon, our man for all seasons, and the country is lucky to have him.

Some countries are so intimidated by Trump that they are even threatening to boycott the soccerball world cup which is returning home to America this summer. But we are not going to let such euro-cowards ruin the biggest sporting event since the 1936 Olympics. 

Trump is a winner in business, politics and romance. No cheese-eating surrender monkey is going to intimidate him because Trump is a tiger.

His animal instinct is exactly what America needs to defend itself. One lesson I remember from the three International Relations seminars I attended at Alabama State is that the ‘law of the jungle’ applies to global affairs. When you’re in the jungle, you’re going to need a tiger. 

Donald Trump isn’t trying to be liked. He’s trying to win—for his country, for his voters, and for an idea of America that doesn’t apologise for existing. That’s why the attacks never quite land. You can’t shame someone who doesn’t seek your permission.

That’s why I admire President Trump not just as my boss, but as a man. 

How could I not? He’s bold, brilliant, fearless — and entirely unbothered by the cheap shots of the political class. The media doesn’t understand him because they’ve never met a man who doesn’t need their validation. The very reason they fear him is the very reason some of us are drawn to him.

The old saying ‘men want to be him, and women want to be with him’ has never felt so apt. He epitomises Bonnie Tyler’s ‘holding out for a hero’. 

Even Britain’s Private Eye Magazine has admitted that he is slim, good-looking and young.

These scurrilous Epstein links just go to show how attractive he is, with girls of all ages (but mostly in the 12-18 age bracket) throwing themselves at him. 

Strength is attractive. Confidence is attractive. Winning is attractive. And Donald Trump is all three, rolled into one larger-than-life force.

When the cameras are off, he’s funny. Charming. Even kind in ways the media would never bother to report. But in public? He’s a lion. And lions don’t apologize for eating lambs.

America doesn’t need another calibrated career politician. It needs conviction. It needs resolve. It needs someone willing to stand in the centre of the storm and not blink.

That’s what Donald Trump does. 

And I’ll always be in his corner (in exactly the same one Monica Lewinsky was to be precise). 

I’m proud to serve him in every way.

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