Trump made self-mythology the cornerstone of his pursuit of power in the 80s.
This avatar also gave him clout and leverage in negotiations that less public-facing competitors could not match.
In this way, he was ahead of his time.
Dan Bekerman produced ‘The Apprentice’, starring Sebastian Stan as Donald TrumpMichael Loccisano/Getty Images; Briarcliff Entertainment/Courtesy Everett Collection
The Apprenticeshows how Trump came by his craft.
Rule #1: Attack, Attack, Attack.
Rule #2: Deny Everything.
Rule #3: Never Admit Defeat.
While Cohn used these rules to win legal battles, Trump used them to supercharge his own narrative.
He climbed into Cohns worldview and, to this day wears it like a second skin.
The primacy of winning informs every aspect of Trumps story-world.
The secondary characters fit into two simple camps: People who help Trump win, and people who dont.
Those in the first camp are the best people perhaps of all time!
Those in the latter camp are nasty terrible and stupid!
It showed Trumps allergy to any collective sentiment: Its not about us, its about me.
Trump, however, is engineering his arc to go in only one direction: the upwards forever.
Time will tell if the laws of Newton or Icarus will bend it.
It is to seek out that which is universally human, to better understand ourselves and each other.
In my favorite American movie, the search for humanity plays out in the land of Oz.
The threat is disarmed as Dorothy and the audience recognize the human insecurities driving the man behind the curtain.
Humanistic storytelling, like inThe Wizard of Oz, connects audiences with elemental experiences behind the facades of power.
Most movies that aspire to humanism of that kind inevitably will be constrained by the need for commercial success.
This discourages choices that challenge the audience and stunts cultural evolution.
Sacrifices in service of deepening human connection have real value, and we dismiss them at our collective peril.
Trumps brand of political storytelling now has been adopted by his followers and acolytes.
Cohn taught Trump how to use threats to create an illusion of omnipotence.
The existence of those recordings was all that was needed to sway them to his will.
After Cohns death, Donald stepped behind the wizards curtain himself.
