Decoding Trump with Spiral Dynamics

Why He Appeals, Who He Attacks, and How He Wins

I’ve been reading your Substack for a couple of years now. What is the Integral Theory take on DJT?

I’ve drafted several replies to your question, each revealing a new layer to dig into. I have to stop sometime, so I’ve decided to stop for now.

I’m taking the tactic of analyzing Donald Trump through the Spiral Dynamics (SD) development model instead of the Integral metatheory approach. Even using just one of the development theories is challenging enough! SD offers many angles to look at him. Get a cup of coffee; I’m going to break this down into

• his own developmental center of gravity,

• his appeal to people at various stages, and

• how he targets his opposition.

Trump’s Developmental Center of Gravity in Spiral Dynamics

Most theories are sequential, and while we transcend and include earlier stages as we move on, Trump operates from a Red/Blue/Orange¹ combined complex that is unusual according to many of these models. I believe he continues to operate primarily from the Red (power-driven) stage (Jeff Saltzman recently said, “he wakes up fighting”). He remains stuck in this stage due to unresolved “shadow” issues that he has no awareness of or interest in addressing.

His Blue stage (Traditional-ordered) involvement is mostly to secure votes, and he does that through parroting rhetorical embellishments that please social and religious conservatives. Because he has followed through on many of those pledges, they overlook his personal failings.

What surprised me was to realize he has a dose of Orange (Strategic-achievement) behaviors that I missed because he so often comes off as unorganized, lying, and haphazard. But if we go up to 30,000 feet, we see his overarching goals are unchanging: to gain personal power and wealth.

Red (Egocentric, Power-focused)

Key Traits of Red: Dominance, aggression, impulsivity, “might makes right,” loyalty through fear, and makes own rules and breaks those made by others.

Trump:

• Sees politics as a dominance game: “I alone can fix it.”

• Relishes personal attacks, intimidation, and revenge.

• Values loyalty over competence.

• Frames deals and negotiations in zero-sum terms: winners and losers.

• Engages in strongman rhetoric, often admiring authoritarian leaders.

Blue (Traditional, Order-driven) - He uses Blue Rhetoric but does not live by Blue values

Key Traits: Law, order, duty, nationalism, religion, hierarchical structure.

Trump:

• Appeals to traditionalists by championing “law and order” (despite not following many laws himself).

• Uses religion to court evangelicals despite lacking personal religiosity.

• Aligns with nationalism, framing outsiders as threats (immigrants, China, etc.).

Orange (Strategic, Success-oriented)

Key Traits: Material success, pragmatism, manipulation, goal-oriented, competitive.

Trump:

• Understands how controversy fuels attention.

• Shapes perception through branding: “Make America Great Again”

• Uses marketing, TV spectacle, and business-world strategies in politics, unaware of how many of these tools are not transferable.

• Persuing personal gain relentlessly.

Who Trump Appeals to in Spiral Dynamics Stages

Red (Authoritarian, Power-based)

Trump is a role model for Reds, a person who talks their talk and has the power to pull it off. He’s a tough guy who punches back 10 times harder, crushes enemies, and never apologizes. For adults still in the Red stage, he is a reassurance that they do not have to grow up.

Blue (Traditional, Order-driven)

After years of frustration with the half-measures of Reagan and the Bushes, conservatives finally feel they have the unwavering fighter they’ve long desired. The trade-off they’ve accepted is that his personal moral failings are a price worth paying for the policies he delivers. Despite any reservations, they value his relentless attacks on progressives, government bureaucrats, and other elites—though sparing the wealthiest.

He convinced a larger number of Blacks and Latinos to vote for him because Blacks were tired of the lip service Democrats paid to their needs, and Latinos trusted that his focus would be on criminal immigrants to deport. So far, both groups are beginning to question their choice. While minorities were never as trusting of Democrats as they liked to believe, they are now coming to realize Trump cannot conceal his lifelong racism. And if he thinks his argument for merit-based hiring holds any water, we have his appointments to put the lie to that claim.

Orange (Achievement, Business-minded)

Despite his complete lack of a stated political and economic philosophy, if we watch what he does and not what he says, we can see why many successful or striving people are supporters. Since mature Orange stage people begin to factor in concerns for the quality of life of their employees, Trump is appealing primarily to those in the earlier phase of their Orange stage.

These “early Orange” people are comfortable with transactional thinkers who don’t worry too much about values questions, who see wealth as good and who are comfortable with ruthless business practices. There are few government regulations that they see as necessary, and they appreciate Trump’s deconstruction² of regulatory systems as terrific.

Green (Postmodern, Egalitarian) - Mostly Opposed but with Some Rebel Followers

There is a small cohort of Greens (Broken Green) who appreciate his disruption of political norms. This gloomy group has reacted to his careless moves with confused support. They love his opposition to political correctness, but they do not account for his lack of any redeeming values or programs with suggestions to replace it with anything better.

Otherwise, Green overwhelmingly opposes him because of his lack of empathy, inclusivity, and environmental concern.

Who Trump Targets in His Attacks

Trump is skilled at identifying enemies and using their opposition to him as a rallying point for his base. Again, SD stages help us see how he uses tactics suitable for each of these groups. The earlier stages, Red and Blue, are more vigorously dualistic in the overall developmental scheme than Orange and Green, so he can take advantage of their willingness to follow his aggressive lead in the fights he starts. Orange and Green, while still dualistic, are by nature more inclusive and so have responded slowly to recognizing and responding to his attacks.

Green (Postmodern, Social Justice)

We all know the triggering effects of name-calling, a specialty of Trump’s: woke, weak, socialists, snowflakes. He says DEI programs sow division (!), threaten American values like merit-based success and throws out incoherent arguments about “Critical Race Theory” and gender ideas that lead to confused discourse and frantic opposition. He uses Progressive excesses like Cancel Culture horror stories, ignoring the fact that he is the king of canceling.

Orange (Elites, Technocrats)

Prior to the election, he was attacking big business, big tech, intellectuals, and media elites as corrupt and out of touch. After reeling them in to support him, they are among his best friends; forget about the negative effects on his voters when he gives the billionaires their tax cut. He has obfuscated the complexities about climate change, tariffs, and government regulations beyond the ability of the political classes to debate them. He is the ADHD President who won’t take his Ritalin, changing his mind twice in the time it takes to start a sentence and finish it. He writes problems and programs out of existence with Executive Orders. While CEOs might like his anti-regulatory stands, they are not doing their normal planning processes until they see where he lands. In the meantime, opportunities are lost and the economy slows down.

Blue (Deep State, Bureaucracy)

In a real role reversal for a Republican, he has framed the FBI and intelligence agencies as part of a conspiracy against him. These deeply establishment individuals and organizations are now evil and while his motivations are personal, he has convinced many that he is protecting them from this establishment. At CPAC in 2024 he grandiosely proclaimed: “I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed, I am your retribution³.”

Red (Criminals, Immigrants, Foreign Threats)

Trump uses inflated and manufactured facts about crime, riots and dangerous “others” to activate fight-or-flight responses. This leads his base to feel under siege, justifying his authoritarian behavior and sometimes hinting at vigilantism.

Conclusion: Trump is Playing Us

From the perspective of the Spiral Dynamics’ interpretations of Trump, his followers, and the rest of us, this is how the above observations line up:

Trump himself is mostly Red with some Orange-level skills, using power and strategy to win at all costs.

• He plays Blue against Green, mobilizing tradition against progressivism.

• He keeps Red and Blue aligned by making them feel attacked by Green and Orange elites.

• He leverages Orange pragmatism while ridiculing intellectuals.

• His success comes from understanding the fault lines in society and widening them, ensuring that opposing value systems are distracted by conflict, and ensuring that just enough will unite behind him.

1. I write extensively about the stages of development in the Spiral Dynamics model in this Substack, but here is a quick reference.

Red: dominance, impulsivity, survival-focused

Blue: obedience, moralistic, stability-seeking

Orange: individualistic, materialistic, scientific

Green: inclusive, egalitarian, subjective

Yellow: flexible, holistic, self-directed

2. “Deconstruct” is a favorite Progressive term. Seeing it in action, al in different hands, demonstrates why I dislike the concept so much.

3. https://bit.ly/4hkGh8O