Those of us here in the United States don't generally give a lot of thought to social status when dealing with our fellow citizens — at least, not to the extent that some other cultures do. Oh, we are aware of some status effects; when we were younger, we treated figures like teachers (at least back when I was in school) and parents as having a higher status than we did. To a degree, that's inevitable — in families, if nowhere else. Until the day he passed, my father never hesitated to remind me that he was the father and I was the son in that relationship.
But in some countries, status is much more deeply ingrained into the culture. Japan, for example. My wife speaks and reads Japanese, and she will attest that one of the things that make Japanese hard for a Westerner to understand is the fact that the way you address another person can differ when that person is lower, higher, or the same status. During my first stint in the Land of the Rising Sun, my wife brought the kids over for a visit during their fall break from school. We stayed in an old hotel in the Shiga Prefecture town of Kusatsu, one of those places where your door key was on a big wooden fob that you handed in at the desk every morning and retrieved when you got back. The desk clerks to whom you handed the key were both young women — maybe 25. After a few days, our daughters made an observation:
"Dad, when Mom and us are leaving in the morning after you've gone to work and we hand in the key, we get a smile and a head-bob. When you're with us, and when you hand in the key, you get several 'Arigato gozaimasu' and several deep bows."
I replied: "It's Japan. I'm a man, and I have some gray hair. That gives me higher status and a more overt display of respect."
Agree with it or not, that's how things work in Japan. So, with that admittedly elementary understanding of how status works in Japan and how it is so deeply ingrained into Japanese culture, I was interested in this bit of video from a story I wrote earlier today.
In this clip, President-elect Trump is speaking with Japanese SoftBank CEO Masayoshi Son, announcing the rather huge investment that SoftBank will be making in the United States. But note Masayoshi-san's body language; he is acting a lot like I would expect a Japanese man to act when speaking to another man of higher status. Not a greatly higher status, but higher; the laughter, the broad grin, the rapid acquiescence to Trump upping the ante; those are the acts of a Japanese man who is dealing with a higher-status individual. Part of this is due to the fact that Donald Trump is, or will soon be, a head of state, and of a Japanese ally at that; respect for authority is also deeply ingrained in Japanese culture. But part of it is the force of personality; whatever one thinks of Donald Trump, one can't deny that he is a forceful, alpha male, a man accustomed to having and asserting authority.
Note: There are alpha females, as well, make no mistake about it. I'm married to one.
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So, what does Donald Trump's interaction with Masayoshi Son tell us about the President-elect and American political leadership?
This is an issue that goes beyond the cultural differences between the United States and our staunch ally in the North Pacific, Japan. This is an issue that speaks to the personality traits and the force of will of two American presidents: one outgoing, one incoming. The friendly, somewhat humorous interaction between Donald Trump and Masayoshi Son was telling, but it's just one demonstration of Donald Trump's status as an alpha. Whatever one may think of Donald Trump, there can be no denying that he exhibits all the traits of an alpha male: decisiveness, forcefulness, a ready assumption of authority, and acceptance of the responsibility that comes with it.
Remember the Republican National Convention, coming as it did on the heels of the Butler, Pennsylvania, attempt on Donald Trump's life? Following a failed assassination attempt, which gave us one of the great political images of the 21st century, Donald Trump walked into the Republican National Convention like a man who had been given a great opportunity. His appearance was what we all expected: His usual dark suit, sparkling white shirt, power tie, and a white bandage on his perforated ear, worn like a badge of honor. That was almost as powerful a political image as his springing to his feet on that Pennsylvania stage, fist raised in defiance, shouting, "FIGHT!"
Contrast that to the pale weaksauce that is the outgoing president, Joe Biden. Biden is in every way the opposite: weak, befuddled, petty, and corrupt. His vice president, who was the Democrat's candidate against Trump/Vance, is likewise weak, vacuous, and frankly not very bright. They are both not only not alphas; they may not even be betas — gammas, perhaps. Worse, they are deeply and fundamentally dishonest, as in Joe Biden's constant harping on the minor kitchen fire that he speaks of as though it was the sequel to "The Towering Inferno" and Kamala Harris's constant refrain about "Trump's 2025 Project" during the election, despite the multiple sources — not to mention Donald Trump himself — pointing out that Trump had nothing to do with that document.
That's in large part why Donald Trump won such a decisive victory last month. It comes to a point where people get tired of being lied to.
We are Americans. We don't emphasize status that other societies do — like Japan. But that doesn't mean we ignore personality traits that can result in higher status. That's why Americans feel better with an alpha in charge. That's why a lot of Americans are breathing a sigh of relief right now. We're counting on America to be made strong again, and that's a task that will take a strong leader. That's a task for an alpha. And we have an alpha returning to the White House, at last, next month.
