There is no such thing as a universal leader. Leaders always represent a specific social group: a political party, a religion or a social movement. The more they are loved by insiders, the more such adulation seems bizarre and inexplicable to outsiders – to the extent that we often dismiss adoring followers as deluded or deplorable in some way. Think Margaret Thatcher, or Jeremy Corbyn, or Boris Johnson.
But perhaps the greatest enigma of contemporary politics concerns Donald Trump – a man who elicits messianic fever and revulsion in equal measure. A liar and serial philanderer championed by evangelists; a felon supported by “law and order” enthusiasts; a man who boasts of groping women and yet was elected with a majority of white women voters; a billionaire who likes posing in the golden lift of his New York skyscraper while also posing as the champion of the working class. How on earth does any of this make sense? Yet, at the same time, how can Kamala Harris – if, as is near-certain, she is crowned the Democratic nominee – hope to win in November unless she is able to make sense of it?
