For many US voters, an abrasive rich man will always be the best bet.VERY few people have the luxury of being freely obnoxious. Most people have to watch what they say for fear of offending their bosses and colleagues. Others resist saying anything that might make them unpopular.
But, in every society, there are a few rare souls who rise above subservience, insecurity and concern. Each morning they take their own abrasive urges out for parade. They are so impressed by their achievements, so often reminded of their own obvious rightness, that every stray thought and synaptic ripple comes bursting out of their mouth fortified by impregnable certitude. When they have achieved this status, they have entered the realm of Upper Blowhardia.
Advertisement: Story continues below These supremely accomplished blowhards offend some but also arouse intense loyalty in others. Their followers enjoy the brassiness of it all. They live vicariously through their hero's assertiveness. They delight in hearing those obnoxious things that others are only permitted to think.
Thus, there has always been a fan base for the abrasive rich man. There has always been a large clump of voters in the United States who believe that America could reverse its decline if only a straight-talking, obnoxious blowhard would take control.
And today, apparently, Donald Trump is that man. Trump, currently most famous for telling people that they are fired, has surged towards the top of the US presidential primary polls. In one poll, he was in (remote) striking distance in a head-to-head against President Barack Obama.
Many people regard Trump as a joke and his popularity a disgrace. But he is actually riding a deep American public fantasy - the hunger for the ultimate blowhard who can lead the US through dark times.
He is riding something else: the strongest and most subversive ideology in America today. Donald Trump is the living, walking personification of the Gospel of Success.
It is obligatory these days in a polite society to have a complicated attitude towards success. If you attend a prestigious school, you are supposed to struggle tirelessly for success while denying that you have much interest in it. If you do achieve it, you are expected to shroud your wealth in locally grown produce, understated luxury cars and tatty fabrics.
Trump, on the other hand, is utterly oblivious to such conventions. When it comes to success, as in so many other things, he is the perpetual boy. He is the enthusiastic adventurer thrilled to have acquired a gleaming new bike, and doubly thrilled to be showing it off.
He labours under the belief - unacceptable in polite society - that two is better than one and that four is better than two. If he can afford a car, a flashy one is better than a boring one. In private jets, lavish is better than dull. In skyscrapers, brass is better than brick, and gold is better than brass.
This boyish enthusiasm for glory has propelled him to enormous accomplishment. He has literally changed the landscape of New York City, Chicago, Las Vegas and many places in between. He has survived a ruinous crash and come back stronger than ever.
Moreover, he shares this unambivalent attitude towards success with millions around the US. Though he cannot possibly need the money, he spends his days proselytising the Gospel of Success through Trump University, his motivational speeches, his TV shows and relentlessly flowing books.
A child of wealth, he is more at home with the immigrants and the lower-middle-class strivers, who share his straightforward belief in the Gospel of Success, than he is among members of the haute bourgeoisie, who are above it. Like many swashbuckler capitalists, he is essentially anti-elitist.
Now, I don't mean to say that Donald Trump is going to be US president or get close. There is, for example, his hyper-hyperbolism and opportunism standing in the way.
In 2009, Trump published a book with a very Trumpian title: Think Like a Champion. In that book, he praised Obama's ''amazing'' and ''phenomenal'' accomplishments. ''Barack Obama proved that determination combined with opportunity and intelligence can make things happen - and in an exceptional way,'' Trump gushed.
Now he spouts nonsense about Obama's place of birth and calls him the worst president in American history. Even angry American voters want some level of seriousness, prudence and self-control.
But I do insist that Trump is no joke. He emerges from deep currents in US culture, and he is tapping into powerful sections of the American national fantasy life.
I would never vote for him, but I would never want to live in a country without people like him.
David Brooks is a columnist with The New York Times.
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