Charisma described in these articles helps with the understanding of the rise of some leaders and others not so much. A recent example is our President Donald Trump. Trump utilizes emotional expressiveness quite well due to the rhetoric he uses. He is very straight forward and simple which appeals to many people. Another example of Trumps charismatic leadership is his speeches at his rallies. His choice of words during those have been criticized by many, however the crowd was responding positively to his speeches so therefore Trump decided to use rhetoric that not many presidents have ever used.
Contrary, President Trump does not fit some of the characteristics of a charismatic leader. As tapes were released of Trump talking about women during the election, his first impression as a presidential candidate were not great. He was judged as credible or honest. Donald Trump is an iterating leader to look at in this aspect. There have been claims that he is similar to Hitler, and others comparing him to Ronald Regan.
Micah Breckenridge
Johnathan,
I really liked reading your response as to how charismatic leadership is relevant in the modern political sphere– I would agree with you that Donald Trump is not necessarily a charismatic leader, but his methodology in appealing to the masses makes people perceive him as that way. Applying Riggio’s definition of charisma, with characteristics such as self-confidence, I would like to see if this leadership methodology aligns with other leaders we will see in our futures.
Anna Marston
Jonathan,
I agree with you that Trump has been able to use rhetoric to manipulate and control how people view him. Although he does have certain aspects of a charismatic leader such as the ability to read a crowd and self-confidence, he is lacking in most of the characteristics of a charismatic leader. He is not eloquent and he does not possess many emotional communication skills. Though he ran on his ability to relate to the working and middle class, in my opinion, he is not a charismatic leader. Thanks for relating these concepts to Trump it really helped me understand them a little better.
Marisa Daugherty
I agree that, even though Trump is a very controversial choice to be president, he has some aspects of a charismatic leader. This is shown in the way he is able to use his speeches and words to rally people to support him like perpetuating stereotypes against groups of people, like immigrants from Central and South America, or speaking proudly about sexually assaulting women. However, Trump is not an eloquent speaker like many of our presidents in the past have been.