Authoritarianism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat has talked about Donald Trump s ability to emotionally manipulate his supporters and why they think hes daddy.

On the latest episode of Kara Swisher and Scott Galloways Pivot podcast, Ben-Ghiat explained how resentment of social progress propelled Trump to the White House and warned that it could see the presumptive GOP presidential nominee return to power once again.

Trump responded to the backlash to that progress by taking a page out of the authoritarian leader playbook and modeling himself on what people wanted, said the history professor at New York University and author of the 2021 book Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present.

The four-times-indicted ex-POTUS was the male brute and perfect person as the anti-Obama who addressed the people who felt that women had too much power, same-sex marriages were taking over, all of the racial stuff, she added.

Trump told his supporters that he loved them, that they were the forgotten, and so theres a sense that hes not just going to represent them, hes going to protect them and take care of them, said Ben-Ghiat.

Swisher suggested Trump was a daddy, a big daddy to his fans.

Hes daddy, agreed Ben-Ghiat. And once they bond to him, they feel protected. But theyre also protective of him because hes also the victim. Its highly effective, this manipulation of emotion.

Watch the video here: