Once early humans had developed spears, Haidt continues,anyone could kill a bullying alpha male. Anything that suggests the aggressive, controlling behavior of an alpha male (or female) can trigger this form of righteous anger, which is sometimes called reactance. In democracies, voters, on average, favor the taller candidate and often crave a “strong leader." They might ostracize him (the alpha male) but mostly they assassinate him. As far as “coercive alpha males" go, Trump is a bully, as demonstrated by his treatment both of competitors for the nomination in 2016 and of Gov.

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