Donald Trump: Does he have a fixed or growth mindset?
“I was a great student. I was good at everything,” “I’ve always won, and I’m going to continue to win. And that’s the way it is.” Trump offers this classic fixed mindset quotes. According to Carol S. Dweck’s book Mindsets has the premise that your mindset can be changed, and it must. A guide with many relatable examples of how we can fulfill our potential. The foundation of her book centers around a person with a fixed or growth mindset. A fixed mindset is someone who believes their skills are given when born, inert and set in stone. A growth mindset sees failures as a platform to improve, learn from and of course try again. Experiencing failures does not discourage a growth mindset. I agree with Dweck’s argument that mindsets must and can be changed, unfortunately, Trump does not do this.
I will discuss the ideas in Dweck’s book by reflecting on Donald Trump’s life experiences and quotes. Another example from Trump, “It is time to show the world that America is back — bigger and better and stronger than ever before”, another fixed mindset example catering to nationalistic ambitions. America is better than in other countries. This harks back to Nazism in Germany, where the Aryan race is supposed to be superior to others. You have many people in America who believe Trump comes from the growth mindset. He did persistently attempt to become President of the United States over a course of 20 years and he did eventually succeed. Dweck cites the example of Jaime Escalante, a Calculus Math teacher in East Los Angeles. He teaches students Advanced Placement level Calculus and successfully gets a number of Mexican American students passing the exam with college credit. Only three other high schools in the nation had more passing AP Calculus students than his program. Dweck uses Escalante’s story as a teacher with a growth mindset. Doing something that was not possible. I do not believe a person is capable of being completely in a fixed or growth mindsets. The idea is to be aware of these two modes of thought and understand how they affect you and other people.
Trump has attempted to be become President of the United States several times, starting from the late 1980s, to entering the presidential race in 2000 as a Reform Party Candidate with 15,000 votes in California. Trump continues his pursuit by becoming a TV personality on the TV Show “The Apprentice” and using that platform to express his continued interest at becoming President in 2003–2004. In 2013, Trump creates a Presidential exploratory committee although ultimately never committing his intentions at the time. Finally, Trump decides to formalize his Presidential candidacy in 2015. Dweck claims, “People with the growth mindset know that it takes time for potential to flower.” You could say that Trump has attempted to gain traction, support, interest in his Presidential aspirations for a long time and could be considered a growth mindset activity. Although considered a dark horse, Trump wins the US Presidential election by electoral victory while having the majority of votes given to Hillary Clinton. Dweck uses several examples of doing something that was not done by anybody or doing something very improbable. Dweck has a supporting example in George Danzig. He was a graduate math student at UC Berkeley. He comes late to class one day and sees two math problems. The math problems are very hard, and it takes him several days to complete his proof. It turns out that those two math problems were not the homework assignment but two math problems no one was able to solve before. Danzig was able to provide a correct proof for those two problems. Those in the growth mindset see problems as challenges. Nothing is impossible if you are in a growth mindset.
Trump’s campaign during the 2016 election included making false claims about certain individuals. Trump told masses of people that Barack Obama was not born in the United States, Obama later provided his birth records which stated his birth was in Hawaii. This was an exercise to produce interest and controversy, although it was untrue and negative, it did raise additional awareness of Trump. In another stunt, Trump targets the 2016 Democratic National Convention Speaker Khizr Khan. Khan is a Muslim U.S. Citizen whose son was killed in Iraq in 2004. Trump claims Khan did not allow his wife to speak during the convention. Again, this later was determined to be false. Dweck mentions John McEnroe in her writings, someone who is successful however thinks in a fixed mindset like Trump. From Dweck’s book, “If you’re successful, you’re better than other people. You get to abuse them and have them grovel. In the fixed mindset, this is what can pass for self-esteem.” Trump uses exaggerated, inflated claims to bolster his position with little factual evidence or truth. During the Republican primaries, he publicly attacked Ted Cruz, in addition to attacking Cruz’s wife and father. Trump accuses Ted Cruz’s father to be part of the John F. Kennedy assassination, claiming there is a photo of Lee Harvey Oswald (John F Kennedy shooter) with Ted Cruz’s father. He claims Ted Cruz was not born in the United States as well. This is similar to Dweck’s example of Janet Cooke and Stephen Glass. They were both young reporters who were stars of their publications. Janet Cooke won a Pulitzer Prize for her articles on the Washington Post, she won acclaim for her stories of an 8-year old boy who does drugs. Stephen Glass was a high-profile writer at The New Republic, who had the ultimate sources and stories. Unfortunately, none of their writings were true. “The fixed mindset does not allow people the luxury of becoming. They already have to be.” Trump is an example of a fixed mindset who tries to be something he is not. According to Dweck, “However, if everything is either good news or bad news about your precious traits — as it is with fixed-mindset people — distortion almost inevitably enters the picture.” Unfortunately, the distortion of information has moved the fixed mindset people from actual facts. Dweck cites the example of John McEnroe, a former №1 men’s tennis player for four years. “‘There was a time — I’ll admit it,’ McEnroe says, ‘when my head was so big it could barely fit through the door.’ Where’s the talk about effort and personal best? There is none,” McEnroe blamed others when he did not win games. Dweck contends, “Another way people with the fixed mindset try to repair their self-esteem after a failure is by assigning blame or making excuses.” Trump tweeted on December 21, 2018, “Democrats now own the shutdown!” A fixed mindset comment blaming others on the Federal government shutdown between December 2018 to January 2019.
Dweck discusses the use of negative labels and how they work. “Negative stereotypes say: ‘You and your group are permanently inferior.’ Only people in the fixed mindset resonate with this message.” Trump has previously said, “We can’t continue to allow China to rape our country and that’s what they’re doing. It’s the greatest theft in the history of the world.” Trump accuses China of stealing and Americans are being stolen from. In another tweet, Trump blames Democrats for not understanding the southern border situation. Trump tweets, “Humanitarian Crisis at our Southern Border. I just got back, and it is a far worse situation than almost anyone would understand, an invasion! I have been there numerous times — The Democrats, Cryin’ Chuck, and Nancy don’t know how bad and dangerous it is for our ENTIRE COUNTRY….” Dweck states, “When stereotypes are evoked, they fill people’s minds with distracting thoughts — with secret worries about confirming the stereotype.”
Trump became President through a confluence of favorable factors. He was a white male, 44 out of 45 US Presidents were white males. The majority of them came from privileged backgrounds like himself. He had incredible resources and support behind him. He was able to rally and appeal to a base of uneducated white voters mostly in the Midwest and smaller towns. This base also held key electoral votes which propelled Trump into Presidential victory.
Perhaps you do not have the financial backing, media connections or a team of assistants to drive you towards your goal like Trump. Dweck’s book offers a path towards self-improvement by focusing on effort rather than being something you think you are. This can be applied to anyone. Trump practices mostly in the fixed mindset. It’s him that is a winner and someone else that is losing. He firmly believes himself to be smart. There is no option for improvement or handling failure. You could also believe that he’s in a growth mindset. He did something that many believed impossible by becoming President. He’s building a southern border wall to prevent immigrants from entering and those immigrants who do come will use US social services which cost taxpayers billions of dollars. Perhaps he sees this as a growth mindset for American citizens. Trump wants to curb the flow of drugs being transported into the United States by building this wall and having it protected. According to Trump, “Nearly 100 percent of heroin in the United States enters through the southern border– think of that: 100 percent, almost, of heroin comes in through the southern border, along with roughly 90 percent of cocaine, and the majority of meth, and a substantial portion of the ultra-lethal fentanyl killing our youth. Fentanyl is killing our youth.” This could be interpreted as a growth mindset to prevent the use of harmful drugs to the American people. He’s started a trade war with China, and he believes they are stealing jobs from the United States. He’s protecting the country’s economic interest by wanting a better deal from China.
Trump’s statements and actions polarize people to love him or hate him. I do not feel like his actions or statements convey that his mindset can change, nor do I believe Trump understands that his mindset needs to change. I agree with Dweck that people should and must change their mindset. Trump displays a fixed mindset which unfortunately hurts many people and puts America in a weaker position.
