CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Donald Trump, the Ultimate Millennial

Photograph Source: The White House – Public Domain

Is Donald Trump the ultimate Millennial? What if Trump is not an anomaly in American politics but the purest expression of a generational cultural shift? Trump is not a Millennial by age, but his political style—personal branding, constant self-projection, and social-media immediacy—often resembles cultural patterns associated with that generation. Just as the Swiss cultural historian Jacob Burckhardt helped shape how we understand the Renaissance today, could a simple reference to “Generation Me” and the Millennials help us understand Trump and the Millennials he has appointed to run the country?

A Generational Context

To understand why Trump’s behavior resonates with a particular segment of Americans, it helps to look through a generational lens that shapes modern cultural attitudes. While it is not always easy for this Baby Boomer to distinguish among Gen X, Gen Y, and Gen Z and the many labels attached to Millennial identities – generally defined as those people born roughly between 1981-1996 – there is no question that Donald Trump shares certain traits with them. Generalizations are risky, but descriptions of Millennials by scholars highlight traits that also appear in Trump’s public persona.

Jean M. Twenge, a professor of psychology at San Diego State University, has written about this generation. In Generation Me, she describes Millennials as having “increased levels of confidence.” In an article for Psychology Today, Twenge also offered reasons why some Millennials reacted positively to Trump during the 2016 U.S. election: “Millennials prize authenticity because they grew up in a culture that focuses more on the self and less on social rules … Donald Trump is just being himself, and he clearly thinks of himself as special.”

In an interview, Twenge elaborated:

So, millennials tend to have very positive views of themselves and are very optimistic about their expectations for their lives and they’re more likely to........

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