What is Donald Trump's Personality Type?
Understand the man, save the country
In the frosts of January, Donald Trump will once again become POTUS.
Today, we’re going to talk about Trump’s personality, and more specifically, how politicians and pundits should better navigate him this time round.
For those who haven’t yet discovered it, the Enneagram is a Myers-Briggs style personality test with elements tracing back more than a millennium.
The word “Enneagram” comes from the Greek words “ennea” meaning “nine” and “gramma” meaning “something written.”
Basically, the theory is that all of humanity can roughly be grouped into nine sorts of folk, with a bend one way or the other. Whichever way you lean is nicknamed a “wing.”
IE, someone who is an Enneagram Two can be a 2-wing-1 or a 2-wing-3. Someone who’s a Five can be a 5-wing-4 or a 5-wing-6.
So really, it’s eighteen broad personality types.
This might sound like astrology, but genetic code runs in patterns, and my hunch is that homo sapiens have eighteen major patterns.
In fact, in all my travels meeting thousands of people across 40+ countries, I haven’t yet met a person who doesn’t snugly fit into one of these eighteen personality types.
The big nine Enneagram Types according to the Enneagram Institute:
Type 1: The Reformer
• Traits: Principled, purposeful, self-controlled, and perfectionistic.
• Motivation: Strives for integrity and improvement, fears being corrupt or defective.
Type 2: The Helper
• Traits: Caring, interpersonal, generous, people-pleasing, and possessive.
• Motivation: Desires to be loved and needed, fears being unwanted or unworthy of love.
Type 3: The Achiever
• Traits: Success-oriented, pragmatic, adaptive, excelling, driven, and image-conscious.
• Motivation: Aims for success and admiration, fears being worthless.
Type 4: The Individualist
• Traits: Sensitive, withdrawn, expressive, dramatic, self-absorbed, and temperamental.
• Motivation: Seeks identity and personal significance, fears having no identity or personal significance.
Type 5: The Investigator
• Traits: Intense, cerebral, perceptive, innovative, secretive, and isolated.
• Motivation: Desires understanding and knowledge, fears being helpless or incapable.
Type 6: The Loyalist
• Traits: Committed, security-oriented, engaging, responsible, anxious, and suspicious.
• Motivation: Seeks security and support, fears being without support or guidance.
Type 7: The Enthusiast
• Traits: Busy, fun-loving, spontaneous, versatile, distractible, and scattered.
• Motivation: Desires freedom and happiness, fears being deprived or in pain.
Type 8: The Challenger
• Traits: Powerful, dominating, self-confident, decisive, willful, and confrontational.
• Motivation: Seeks control and self-protection, fears being harmed or controlled by others
Type 9: The Peacemaker
• Traits: Easygoing, self-effacing, receptive, reassuring, agreeable, and complacent.
• Motivation: Desires inner stability and peace of mind, fears loss and separation.
Which type are you?
Which way do you lean as your wing?
And how about Donald Trump?
Donald Trump is not an Enneagram 8
Most people think Donald Trump is an 8 — “The Challenger.”
More specifically, they think he is an 8-wing-7, AKA, “The Nonconformist,” “The Maverick,” or “The Independent.”
8w7s are self-confident and ambitious; natural leaders; highly self-assured; driven to achieve their goals. Their 7 wing means they’re extroverted; sociable; the life of the party. They like their autonomy and take their own path.
But here’s the thing:
Donald Trump is not an 8w7.
I should know.
I’m an 8-wing-7.
People mistakenly believe the top desire of an 8w7 is to control others, but it’s not true — we simply don’t want to be controlled.
8w7s come across as controlling simply because their fear of being controlled drives them to maintain control over their own lives and environments.
But when 8s are doing well, they act like 2s (helpers).
And when they’re stressed, they act like 5s and retreat to learn, research, and grow.
Famous 8s include Martin Luther King Jr., Winston Churchill, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Socrates.
Does any of this sound like Donald Trump?
I would argue strenuously that Donald Trump is an unhealthy 3 (achiever) with a 4 (individualist) wing.
Threes have to win.
They cannot admit defeat.
They would rather lie (even about election results) than be seen to be weak.
They crave recognition and attention and hog all the credit. (IE, plastering one’s name on buildings.)
Threes have to win at all costs, have an insatiable desire to be recognized and seen as successful, and have zero problem lying to get both.
Sound familiar?
Fellow power-hungry 3s include Taylor Swift, Meghan Markle, and Niccolò Machiavelli.
4s are provocative and controversial.
4s love fame.
4s are creative and artistic (Trump expresses his artistic side through his branding, his hair, and designing stunning buildings, even fixating on little details like toilets, taps, and floor finishings.)
Hillary Clinton is a fellow 4, which is probably why Trump hates her so much.
8s hate being controlled and value the truth above all else.
Trump is an inveterate liar and is controlled by billionaires, his lenders, and a gnawing sense of his unworthiness (likely from his horrible father) that drives him to win the praise of crowds.
When 3s are healthy — which Trump is decidedly not — they act more like 6s (loyalists.) Trump has no loyalty to anyone but himself.
When 3s are unhealthy, they act more like 9s — disengaged, apathetic, complacent, avoiding challenges and responsibilities, seeking comfort in inactivity.
Clearly, this is what happened to Trump during his first term in office. Rather than actually govern, he reverted to his comfort zone of long-winded speeches, rather than actually running a well-oiled administration and advancing a clear policy agenda.
What to do with President Trump
A second Trump term doesn’t have to be a total disaster for progressives, the poor, or the planet.
The political class — the Senate, the House, the Democrat party, the Republican party, the media — just needs to do six things:
1. Give him creative outlets.
Honestly, the absolute best use for Donald Trump as President would be to give him a $3 billion budget ($20 per taxpayer) and get him to erect all sorts of world-class buildings and monuments across the country.
Forget the Burj Kalifa — the Liberty-Freedom-Greatness Tower would soon be the tallest building in the world.
2. Keep stress far away
When stressed, 3w4s get extremely moody and overly confident.
We can’t afford POTUS being either of those things.
Bulk up his security.
Don’t let him watch CNN.
Cool the rhetoric on the left.
Clearly, it’s not working anyway; try deafening silence instead.
3. Make him feel worthy
The primary fear of a 3w4 is failure and being seen as worthless. They are driven to avoid failure at all costs.
So give him some easy wins.
Get all the conservative universities to give him honorary degrees.
Throw a few military parades for the men in uniform.
Let him host a TV show where he hands out Presidential Medals of Honor.
4. Make him feel valuable
The main desire of 3w4s is to feel valuable and worthwhile. They seek validation and affirmation for their achievements and unique contributions.
So throw the dog a bone — particularly towards the end of his term.
This is crucial.
Trump very well may not leave office, in which case, America will be in an extremely dangerous situation.
So send him on a farewell victory tour.
Congratulate him on that wall.
Pat him on the back for screwing Canada with tariffs.
Laud him for following George Washington’s precedent of retiring after two terms.
Let him pick the next Republican candidate for President.
Then give him a TV show so he can save face on the way out the exit.
5. Get better at conflict resolution
At present, both left and right just wail and moan whenever Trump does something they don’t like and constantly he’s doing stuff they don’t like.
When resolving conflicts with 3w4s, it’s important to be straightforward and communicate the root of the issue clearly.
They value logical and balanced discussions.
This might sound totally unlike Trump, but if you listen to him in long-form podcast discussions, he’s a completely different animal compared to when he’s in front of a camera or a crowd.
So turn off the camera, put away the microphones, and talk to the man.
6. Let him make America great again
Seriously, the man is a builder — let him build.
3w4s thrive in environments where they can set and achieve ambitious goals.
Give him space to do so.
3w4s also prefer clear, direct communication and appreciate feedback that helps them improve.
Give him that, too.
Call to action
If you know anyone in politics, please send them this article and ask them to spread it around their political circles.
If both the Republicans and the Democrats can learn to navigate the new leader of the free world far better, it will make a massive difference in the state of the nation four years from now.
We might even get some cool buildings out of it.
Sure, this is all damage control, but we are where we are and something is better than nothing.
Hit forward now and save the country!
I'm a 1 wing 7
I gave Trump a 3 wing 6