Since entering office for his second term, President Trump has consistently ignored expert advice on key policies, sought to intimidate his perceived enemies and critics, and counted on the public to trust his judgments without question. Clifford Winston writes that these are all characteristics of a narcissistic populist presidency, and that his policy agenda has and will create adverse outcomes for many Americans as well as obstacles to innovation.

Depending on the party that they represent, past US presidents have taken either a conservative approach to governance, championing limited government interventions in Americans’ lives, or a liberal one, espousing expansive government interventions. In contrast, President Trump does not consistently advocate for either limited or expanded government. Instead, he identifies as a populist, appealing to much of the public’s policy preferences. However, because Trump is the first US president to at least publicly proclaim that he is on a mission from God and that he runs both the country and the world, he is best understood as a narcissistic populist. 

What is a narcissistic populist president and what are the policy implications?

A narcissistic populist ignores or denigrates professional experts who could provide valuable policy guidance while enhancing their own credibility with the public by stressing that they—and only they—can formulate effective policy by understanding what the public elected them to do. Accordingly, although the nation’s economists uniformly oppose using tariffs as an efficient way to increase manufacturing employment and some have discredited the arguments by Trump’s toadying economists supporting tariffs, Trump is committed to the policy. Similarly, Trump cannot be persuaded by any medical expert to retract his dangerously false claim that 99 percent of COVID-19 cases are harmless. And Trump stubbornly denies that pollutants are contributing to harmful warming of the planet despite that belief conflicting with the scientific consensus.

A narcissistic populist also seeks to intimidate and inflict harsh punishment on his perceived enemies and critics and can convince much of the public to see those people in the same negative way that he does. Trump has made extraordinary use of enforcement resources to remove “illegal” immigrants and to reduce legal immigration. Under the disingenuous pretext of punishing antisemitism and the use of DEI programs, Trump has made extraordinary use of lawyers to threaten universities, who he alleges are woke left-wing critics, as well as law firms that have represented his opponents. Thus, the nation’s leading universities and law firms can either humiliate themselves by caving to Trump’s demands or incur substantial legal expenses and the costs of being blacklisted from obtaining government funds and resources.

“P20250607DT-0175” by The White House is United States government work.

Finally, a narcissistic populist defies open discussion of his policies and counts on the public to trust his judgments without question. Thus, Trump trusts his gut instincts above all else and scoffs at the idea of justifying his policy positions, providing credible empirical evidence to support their efficacy, or reforming his policies if the evidence of their performance warrants it. Trump’s newly formed Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), for example, is intended to make recommendations to streamline the US federal government to reduce its inefficiencies. DOGE’s recommendations should be guided in open discussion by sound arguments and by institutional understanding that are accompanied by the likely empirical evidence that the recommended actions will benefit the nation. But instead, DOGE has been chainsaw-focused on gutting the bureaucracy and has shown no interest in justifying its actions, including whether they have been cost-effective.

Where Trump’s policy agenda is leading

The implications for a country’s success in accomplishing economic goals to improve its material well-being and social goals to provide a minimum quality of life for its people are severely compromised by a narcissistic populist president who is wilfully uninformed and misinformed, consumed by anger and retribution, and dependent on his gut feelings. Trump will not focus on socially desirable economic and social goals to accomplish and even if he does, he will not use appropriate policy tools to succeed.

Evidence is already developing that Trump’s policy agenda will create adverse outcomes, including but not limited to:

• Tariffs that reduce competition from foreign competitors, increase domestic prices, and require additional subsidies for farmers.
• Opposition to efficient efforts to reduce pollution, which will harm Americans’ health.
• Opposition to the New York City congestion pricing scheme, which is reducing congestion and automobile accidents and increasing foot traffic in downtown commercial areas.

Importantly, Trump’s myopic policy agenda is also creating obstacles to innovation that could advance the nation, such as:

• Price controls for pharmaceuticals, which could result in less innovation, fewer new drugs, and shortages of current drugs.
• Restrictions on immigration, which could lower the rate of socially beneficial innovation because immigrants tend to contribute a disproportionate share of US inventions and aggregate innovation.

Because the characteristics and adverse effects that Trump’s narcissism imposes on the nation’s governance will persist throughout his term, vital questions emerge. Will Trump maintain his populist support when much of the public experiences the significant costs of his policies? If not, can he impose autocratic governance, or will the public realize that the narcissistic populist was only a narcissist after all and strongly resist his policies?

Clifford Winston speaks to Forbes Breaking News about this article

• Clifford Winston’s latest book is Market Corrections Not Government Interventions: A Path to Improve the US Economy.
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• Note: This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of USAPP – American Politics and Policy, nor the London School of Economics.