Donald Trump, in my view, is an Enneagram type Eight, a person who perceives him- or herself as a super hero, larger than life, who intimidates enemies – and who perceives the world as one in which people are either for me or against me – with their physical presence, threats, and bullying if needed. At least, low functioning, low self-mastery Eights do this. More developed Eights do not.

The emotional habit – called “passion” in Enneagram terms – of Eights is lust. And lust is defined as the excessive and fervent desire for satisfaction in a variety of forms such as work, food, pleasure and more as a way of avoiding and denying their feelings and vulnerabilities.

Lust is a complex word that has a sexual connotation. It is a body-based reaction – and Eights are an Enneagram type formed in the Body Center of Intelligence; lust is an emotion or feeling of intense desire in the body that can take forms such as the lust for sex, lust for expensive objects (extravagance) or the lust for power. This sounds very much like Donald Trump.

Of the three versions or subtypes of type Eight – self-preserving, social and one-to-one, which is also called “sexual” – Donald Trump is most likely a “sexual” subtype Eight. The “sexual” subtype Eight is called ”possession,” and these Eights are the most rebellious and emotional of the Eights, enjoying the challenging and expressing of values that differ from the norm. Their lust is also for possessing their environment, possessing people, being the center of attention, and exerting their power to provoke or seduce. And this kind of lust is often confused – in the Eight’s mind and in the other person(s) – with love.

The above information is intended to set the stage for my premise that Trump’s appeal, as well as the revulsion to it, stems from his sexualization of the Republican race for the presidential nomination. In doing so, Trump is simultaneously unleashing unrepentant power and aggression; all three of these areas – sex, power, and aggression – reside in the individual and group level unconscious. Is he doing this on purpose? I believe so. Does it come to him naturally? Yes!

Here are some examples of how Trump does this in relation to women by sexualizing them

About Hillary Clinton | “…she got schlonged, she lost, I mean she lost.”

Here, Trump was referring to Clinton’s loss to Obama in 2008, and he uses the word “schlonged.” Technically, “schlong” is a Yiddish word (a noun) for the male sexual anatomy; “schlonged” is the verb version of “schlong.” In a sense, this is more graphic and demeaning than merely using the “F” word as a verb.

About Hillary Clinton | “If Hillary Clinton can’t satisfy her husband, what makes her think she can satisfy America?”

This is a clear reference to the Monica Lewinksy scandal, among other elements of Bill Clinton’s behavior.

About Carly Fiorina | “Look at that face. Would anyone vote for that? Can you imagine that? The face of our next president?”

While not as explicitly sexual as the Clinton quotes, Trump’s comment about how he perceives Fiorina’s beauty (or lack thereof) is akin to “Who would want to have her?” with the word have meaning something in the sexual arena.

About Megyn Kelly | “You could see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever.”

The comment made by Trump the day after the first Republican debate, when Kelly grilled him (and other candidates) hard; a clear sexual reference to a woman’s menstrual cycle.

About Princess Diana | “I could have [nailed Diana].”

Trump would go on Howard Stern’s radio show (Stern, a master of the outrageous), and rate different women’s beauty saying who he could have slept with. Several days after Diana’s death, he said the above quote in response to a question from Stern.

About Arianna Huffington | “…unattractive inside and out. I fully understand why her former husband left her for a man; he made a good decision.”

An obvious remark to make Arianna Huffington appear so unappealing to her husband that it was her fault her husband left her for a man.

About Ivanka Trump, his daughter | “Yeah, she really is something, and what a beauty. If I weren’t happily married and, ya [sic] know, her father….”

This quote violates all rules of incest taboos.

In relationship to men, Trump tries to emasculate them and hyper-masculinize himself

About Marco Rubio | “Little Marco;” “Lightweight Rubio;” “Little mouth on him;” “I’ve never seen a human being sweat like he sweats;” “Really big ears;” ”Choker”

Most if not all of these comments go beyond mere physicality and are intended to create a picture of Rubio as a boy, not a man and certainly not a manly-man. “Choker” is a derogatory term used for athletes who lose their nerve, and, therefore, lose the game as well as their masculinity.

About himself | “Look at those hands, are they small hands?” “And, he [Marco Rubio] referred to my hands – ‘if they’re small, something else must be small.’ I guarantee you there’s no problem. I guarantee.”

Trump made this remark at a televised debate in response to a comment made by Marco Rubio at a rally suggesting that Trump’s small hands were indicative of a small male anatomical part. Here Trump not only defends his manhood, he refers to its size.

What Trump says about groups that sexualizes them

About Mexicans | “When Mexico sends us its people, they’re not sending their best….They’re rapists.”

Trump made this comment when he announced his candidacy, using derogatory and categorical terms to denounce illegal immigrants from Mexico, but several days later, he broadened the scope of this insult to refer to people coming from all over South and Latin America.

What this is all about, at the level of the individual and group unconscious

Here I am referring to the primitive, taboo aspects of the human psyche at an individual and group level. This level of the unconscious is where social taboo aspects reside: unbridled sex, power, and aggression. And this is a key aspect of what Donald Trump is tapping into at his rallies and debate performances. He revs people up, tapping into the individual and group level Id, and he knows how to work people into a feverish state of excitement, passion, anger and oddly, a sense of community.

Trump, aggression and violence

In a review of Donald Trump rallies and other related events, there is a long list of ritually approved violence toward others:

October 14, 2015 | Trump protestors shoved and spit on by attendees.

October 23, 2015 | A protestor knocked down and kicked by attendees.

November 21, 2015 | A protestor is kicked, punched and choked by attendees.

December 3, 2015 | A protestor is struck by a security guard.

December 11, 2015 | Protestors are forcibly ejected from a fundraiser.

December 14, 2015 | Attendees yell “Sieg Heil” and “light the m…erfu..er on fire” at a protestor.

February 29, 2016 | A photographer is slammed to the ground by a Secret Service agent.

March 1, 2016 | A protestor is surrounded and shoved by a number of rally attendees.

Often, but not always, the protestors are people of color: Latino, Black or individuals who appear to be of Middle Eastern descent. What does Trump actually do? He activates and rallies the underlying aggression of the crowd, calling for and giving the permission for them to become aggressive and violent: “Get the hell out,” Trump yells at one protestor from the podium. About another protestor, he says, “You know what they used to do to guys like that? He’d go out in a stretcher.” Trump adds, “I’d like to punch him in the face.”

Trump stimulates violence wherever he can; he and his audience thrive on it. For example, he talks about doing even more violent things than waterboarding when interrogating persons who might (or might not) know something of interest to the US intelligence community, even though waterboarding has not been proven to obtain accurate, useful information and is outlawed internationally. Trump talks, with no apparent remorse, about intentionally killing the families of terrorists, including women and children, because, he suggests, they likely knew something about the attack. A curious question is this: Wouldn’t we want to interrogate rather than kill people who might know something?

Trump and power

Trump, like all Eights, has a finely tuned instinct for power and influence – who has it, how to get more of it, how to use it, where he stands vis-à-vis others, and more. Trump’s way of understanding power is extremely hierarchical, and Trump knows how to use his power and power brand to establish himself as the head of the power triangle, the name on the tallest building literally and metaphorically. It is as if he is trying to establish a new social order with his name at the top.

In lust we trust

As mentioned earlier, lust is often mistaken for love, and Trump also plays this card. In his rallies or during his victory speeches, he often claims, “I love you ___[fill in the blank]” or “We love you ___[fill in the blank.]” Trump goes beyond normal politicians, who often say, ”I love you Kansas” or the name of a state where they have claimed victory. Trump will disparage Mexicans and then say, “I love Mexicans.” Or he will refer to people without a high school education as “the poorly educated” who voted for him and then say, “I love the poorly educated.” Trump claims now to love just about everyone, except when he doesn’t. Trump takes his audience from lust to love in one short breath, one short or incomplete sentence. And he does it well.

Other Trump blogs

August 19, 2015 | Donald Trump and the enneagram | what makes The Donald run?

August 24, 2015 | Donald Trump and the enneagram | what would make The Donald stop?

Ginger Lapid-Bogda PhD, the author of five best-selling Enneagram-business books, is a speaker, consultant, trainer, and coach. She provides certification programs for professionals around the world who want to bring the Enneagram into organizations with high-impact business applications, and is past-president of the International Enneagram Association. Visit her website: TheEnneagramInBusiness.com. ginger@theenneagraminbusiness.com