Donald Trump’s first few days as president have been overshadowed by his battle with the media over estimates of the size of the crowd that witnessed his inauguration.
Trump and his team are wrong when they said that his crowd was bigger than the turnout at either of Obama’s inaugurals. But it is rich of the media to focus on crowd sizes now as if they convey some meaning. For a year and a half, most journalists dismissed the tens of thousands of people who routinely attended Trump’s campaign rallies, even though (or perhaps because) Trump constantly bragged about them. If the media had paid more attention, perhaps more of them would have anticipated the outcome.
But this dispute over crowd sizes underscores one of Trump’s most prominent characteristics: His preoccupation with physical size.
He’s gotten into endless and prominent debates over the size of his poll numbers, the size of his fortune, the size of his hands, as well as other body parts. He has belittled adversaries over their height and health, and made fun of former employees for being too fat or having breasts that are too small.
Some of Trump’s most famous phrases — “yuuuge” and “big league” — have to do with physical size. To Trump, at least, size matters most.
Trump’s obsession has rubbed off on his lieutenants. “Sometimes, Republicans get a little weak-kneed,” Rudy Giuliani
told reporters after one of the presidential debates. “I happen to be a Republican with strong knees.” During the vice presidential debate, Mike Pence twice mentioned that America needed a “broad-shouldered” foreign policy, whatever that means.
Trump’s obsession with size is a sign of narcissism and it isn’t healthy. Although Trump is no dictator, he does evince some dictatorial tendencies, and this is one of them. It isn’t unlike Fidel Castro’s reported obsession with crowd sizes or Josef Stalin’s compulsion about hiding his short stature. Appearance is everything to those who lack substance.
In Trump’s way of thinking, if fewer people showed up to watch your inauguration than the guy before you, then that must mean you’re not as popular as your predecessor. If Trump’s hands are small that must mean he’s less of a man than the guy blessed with big hands. It all makes a certain type of sense, at a superficial level. Thank goodness Trump was born tall; imagine what a terror he’d be if he were short.
Size matters, at least to some degree. Studies show a link between estimates of size and power. But research has shown that obsession with physical size and strength can be a symptom of narcissism. A 2013 study even found that for CEOs, the bigger the signature, the bigger the ego.
Russian President Vladimir Putin is also notably obsessed with projecting strength, both his own and his country’s. But in the latter case it’s clearly meant to mask Russia’s weak institutions and dismal economy. For the insecure, there’s always something to hide.
Which invites the question: What’s Trump hiding?
Daniel Allott is deputy commentary editor for the Washington Examiner
